THE 

CAVE  MAN 


JOHN  CORE  IN 


The  CAVE    MAN 


JUDITH. 


The  CAVE    MAN 


By 

John   Corbin 


D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

NEW    YORK 

1907 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY 
THE  CURTIS   PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Published  April,  1907 


IN    GRATEFUL   ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

OF   A    DEBT   TO    HIM    AND    TO 

"THE    MINORITY  " 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


Judith (Frontispiece) 

"A    young    girl    had    peered    at    him  from    a    passing 

automobile " 1 6 

"A  solitary  man  sat,   vague  image  of  desolation  "        .      152 
"They  had  turned  and  were  walking  away"      .        .      212 


THE    CAVE    MAN 


T 


CHAPTER    I 

HERE  he  is,  Mr.  Onderdonk!"  said 
the  younger  Miss  Sears.  "  Your 
cousin!  Oh,  do  go  out  and  get 
him !  "  She  sat  in  a  window  seat  in 
Holworthy  Hall,  clasping  her  knees  in  her  hands, 
and  looking  out  upon  the  Class-Day  crowd  in 
what  Harvard  men  call  the  Yard.  "  I  know  I 
shall  love  him  again !  " 

"Again?"  asked  Onderdonk.  "Wistar!" 
His  glance  followed  hers. 

Wistar  was  just  below  them,  standing  in  a  group 
of  graduates  of  ten  years  past  who  were  greeting 
one  another  with  old  friendship,  now  and  then 
shouting  the  number  of  their  year  to  summon 
others  of  the  class.  He  was  tall,  and,  as  it  seemed 
to  the  young  people,  overserious;  though  when  he 
gripped  the  hand  or  put  an  arm  upon  the  shoulder 
of  an  old  classmate  in  the  throng  his  face  lighted 
pleasantly. 

Onderdonk  turned  upon  her  an  inquiring  glance. 

"  I  could  do  it  in  a  minute,"  she  said.     "  I  did 

love  him  once,  years  and  years  ago,  when  I  was 

i 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

in  short  skirts  and  sandals.  He  was  my  sister's; 
but  she  wouldn't  have  him.  I  was  jealous — and 
furious  with  her,  too,  for  sending  him  away.  Do 
get  him !  " 

Instead  of  obeying  her,  he  gathered  the  unac- 
customed folds  of  his  graduating  gown  about  him 
and  sat  down  where  he  could  look  her  full  in  the 
face. 

"  He's  six  feet  tall,"  she  pleaded,'"  and  he  has 
the  loveliest  gray  eyes !  " 

Onderdonk  laughed  at  her,  as  she  had  meant 
him  to;  but  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  won- 
dered what  his  own  eyes  were  like,  and  felt  the 
lack  of  an  inch.  "  I  asked  him  here,  and  he  knows 
the  room.  I  can't  grab  him  like  an  ol'  clo'es 
puller  in." 

"  If  you  can't  tell  people  what  to  do  " — with  a 
glance  at  the  crimson  tassel  of  the  mortar  board 
on  his  knee — "  what's  the  use  of  being  the  Class- 
Day  Marshal?" 

By  virtue  of  his  office,  Onderdonk  was  respon- 
sible for  the  orderly  conduct  of  the  day's  exercises, 
the  contentment  of  some  hundreds  of  classmates 
who  were  fellow-hosts  with  him,  and  the  happi- 
ness of  the  thousands  of  their  guests.  But  he  sat 
unmoved,  lost  in  the  intimacy  of  teasing. 

"  Besides,"  she  pursued,  "  he's  your  cousin.  If 
I  were  marshal,  that's  the  very  best  thing  I'd  do 
— marshal  my  relatives." 

2 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

'  You  have  some  particular  reason  for  wanting 
Wistar.  I'll  get  him — if  you'll  tell  me  what  it  is." 

"  I  told  you." 

"  You  can  do  that  better  if  you  don't  see  him." 

"  My,  what  a  jealousness !  "  She  laughed  at 
him  in  turn,  as  he  in  turn  had  intended.  "  But 
I  have  a  reason,  and  I'll  tell  you — if  you  promise 
to  help  me."  She  leaned  toward  him  with  an  air 
of  confidence.  "  You  have  met  Mr.  Penrhyn," 
she  said  with  a  side  slant  of  her  head  toward  a 
table  in  the  far  corner  where  her  elder  sister  was 
serving  tea  to  two  men.  "  What  do  you  think 
of  him?" 

"  A  good  chap,  I  should  say."  As  he  spoke, 
Penrhyn  laughed  heartily  at  something  Miss  Sears 
had  said.  "  I  like  his  laugh."  She  was  silent, 
however,  and  Onderdonk  added :  "  Of  course  I've 
only  just  met  him."  , 

"  Do  you  know  why  he  brought  father,  Judith 
and  me  up  here  from  New  York?  " 

"  Out  of  kindness  to  me." 

She  nodded  a  "  thank  you."  "  In  the  first 
place,  on  business — the  combination  in  motor 
cars,  you  know.  Mr.  Wistar  has  refused  to  go 
into  it,  and  he  wants  to  get  at  him  through  you." 
She  paused,  conscience-stricken.  "  Am  I  very  bad 
to  tell  you?  I'm  not  supposed  to  know  anything 
about  it.  And  you  are  a  stranger — almost." 

"  Such  thanks  for  the  '  almost ' !  "     His  man- 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ner  had  been  half  satirical,  half  caressing,  but  now 
of  a  sudden  it  took  a  serious  turn.  "  That's  what 
Wistar  meant !  "  he  said,  taking  a  letter  from  his 
pocket.  "  Only  a  few  hours  ago  I  got  this,  telling 
me  he'd  be  here — on  business !  " 

Onderdonk  had  inherited  an  interest  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  which  his  cousin  was  the  head. 
Some  months  before,  he  knew,  Mr.  Sears  and 
Mr.  Penrhyn  had  attempted  to  consolidate  the  in- 
dustry; but  Wistar,  who  was  perhaps  the  ablest 
and  most  successful  manufacturer  in  the  field,  was 
also  a  stanch  opponent  of  modern  business  con- 
solidations, and  had  refused  to  join.  Without 
him,  Onderdonk  had  supposed,  the  attempt  had 
been  abandoned.  "  Isn't  that  like  him?  "  he  con- 
cluded. "  He'd  clean  forgotten  that  he'd  prom- 
ised to  be  here  for  Class  Day!  " 

"  All  I'm  interested  in,"  she  said,  "  is  that  Mr. 
Penrhyn  is  so  much  with  my  sister.  Oh,"  she 
broke  off,  "  I  know  you're  laughing  at  me !  But 
other  girls  have  their  mother  to  manage,  and  she's 
all  I've  ever  had!  "  She  did  not,  however,  lose 
sight  of  her  purpose.  "  You  know  we're  poor, 
don't  you  ?  " 

He  nodded. 

'  We're  very  poor.  Once,  you  know,  we 
weren't  poor.  But  father  has  an  eye  for  what  they 
call  gilt-edge  investments." 

He  smiled  tentatively. 
4 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  You  mustn't  laugh  at  him,"  she  protested, 
looking  about  at  her  father's  refined  and  sensi- 
tive face.  Onderdonk  was  humbly  silent,  and  she 
ran  on:  "  He  really  has  had  splendid  ideas!  Only 
things  are  so  contrary — the  moment  father  has 
proved  how  they  ought  to  happen,  and  financed 
a  company,  they  up  and  do  just  the  opposite." 

He  was  soberly  attentive  now,  and  the  result 
was  that  the  lights  danced  in  her  eyes. 

'  You  see  what  a  powerful  financier  he  is.  By 
a  single  investment  he  has  always  been  able  to 
shift  the  course  of  progress." 

He  laughed,  and  then  she  became  serious  again. 

"  I'm  horrid  to  talk  about  him  so.  Judith 
would  die  and  go  to  the  poorhouse  before  she'd 
let  him  suspect  she  had  lost  faith  in  him.  And 
now  it's  this  promotion  of  Mr.  Penrhyn's." 

"You  don't  believe  in  it?"  His  tone  ap- 
proved her  disbelief.  The  paternal  business, 
which  had  begun  with  the  manufacture  of  bicycles, 
had  suffered  from  one  of  the  earliest  excesses  of 
trust-manipulation. 

"  If  it  turns  out  like  the  rest — but  that's  not 
what  bothers  me.  Mr.  Penrhyn  manages  to  see 
so  much  of  my  sister  that  everybody  is  saying 
they're  engaged." 

"  And  my  cousin?  " 

"What  is  it  you  call  it  in  football?  Breaking 
up  the  interference?" 

5 


THE     C  A  V  E     MAN 

He  looked  about  with  interest.  Penrhyn's  eyes 
were  alert  with  intelligence;  but  his  light-brown 
hair  waved  almost  trivially  upon  his  forehead,  and 
there  was  a  dimple,  in  fact  a  cleft  in  his  chin. 

"  For  such  a  long  time  now  Judith  hasn't  gone 
out  at  all.  At  first  it  didn't  matter,  for  people 
came  to  us.  But  they  would  fall  in  love  with  her. 
And  when  they  have  got  through  proposing  they 
don't  come  any  more.  Now,  sometimes,  I  think 
she  is  lonesome.  Mr.  Penrhyn  is  the  only  one 
who  never  gets  discouraged.  You  can't  lose  him  \ 
And  then  he's  so  interested  in  father — perhaps 
you  don't  know  how  things  like  that  make  you 
fond  of  people?  Boyser — that's  our  maid — says 
Judith  is  just  the  kind  to  go  over  the  whole  wood- 
pile and  pick  out  a  crooked  stick  at  last.  Some- 
times I  think  she  must  have  forgotten  what  a 
really  nice  fellow  is  like.  Your  cousin  is  a  nice 
fellow?" 

"Now  I  can  tell  you  the  truth.  He's  more 
than  a  nice  fellow."  He  paused — an  artist  in 
search  of  the  one  and  only  word.  "  He's  the  real 
thing!  "  he  said.  "  Is  it  a  bargain — about  break- 
ing up  the  interference?  " 

'  Yes,  and  a  secret!  "  There  was  still  enough 
of  the  small  girl  in  her  to  find  joy  in  sworn  con- 
fidences. She  reached  out  her  hand,  and  they 
gripped  like  black  conspirators.  The  afternoon 
sun,  as  it  struck  down  through  the  little  antique 

6 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

panes  of  spun  glass,  showed  the  coursing  of  blood 
beneath  the  firm,  satin  surface  of  her  cheeks.  He 
blushed  like  a  boy,  the  strong,  rich  color  glowing 
deep  beneath  a  surface  of  tan. 

The  third  marshal  burst  in  on  them  and  seized 
Onderdonk  by  the  shoulder.  "  Hang  it,  Donky!  " 
he  said.  "  We've  waited  for  you  half  an  hour. 
You're  holding  up  the  whole  shooting  match !  " 
Becoming  aware  of  the  other  occupants  of  the 
room  he  hesitated,  but  ended  by  haling  Onder- 
donk out  through  the  door.  The  third  marshal 
made  up  in  zeal  what  his  office  lacked  in  distinc- 
tion. 

Little  Miss  Sears  laughed  to  herself,  and  said 
"  Donky!  "  Then  she  repeated  the  word,  as  if 
its  sound  were  a  pastoral  symphony,  a  midsum- 
mer night's  dream  of  thistles  and  he-haws.  But 
the  face  she  turned  toward  the  window  was  se- 
rious enough,  and  when  she  saw  Onderdonk  break 
loose  from  his  sergeant  long  enough  to  pass  a 
word  to  Wistar  she  gripped  her  own  right  wrist 
and  shook  her  hand  to  him — the  black  hand  of 
conspiracy. 

What  Onderdonk  had  said  was  that  his  party 
— names  unnamed — had  asked  to  have  Wistar 
presented,  and  that  as  his  seat  at  the  Stadium 
was  next  theirs,  he'd  better  wander  upward  in 
a  hurry,  if  he  didn't  want  to  stand  on  exhibition 
as  a  social  quitter. 

7 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  younger  Miss  Sears  met  Wistar  on  the 
landing,  and  greeted  him  most  cordially,  if  briefly. 
As  she  led  him  in  to  Judith,  she  put  a  wrap  on 
his  arm  and  warned  him  that  her  sister  was  in 
danger  of  her  life  from  catching  cold.  Then  she 
attached  herself  to  Penrhyn  and  her  father.  "  You 
have  both  of  you  neglected  me  shamefully,"  she 
said,  and  led  them  down  the  winding  staircase  into 
the  college  yard.  As  she  hurried  them  along  the 
pavement  outside  she  noted  with  inward  triumph 
that  Judith  and  Wistar  were  not  following. 


M 


CHAPTER    II 

ISS  SEARS  looked  at  Wistar  with  in- 
terest, as  if  to  recall  a  fading  mem- 
ory. She  remembered  him  as  a  very 
earnest  young  man — and  she  had  been 
at  the  age  when  one  does  not  value  earnestness  in 
young  men.  Now,  though  he  seemed  almost  as 
young  as  ever,  he  impressed  her  as  even  more 
earnest;  but  to  her  surprise  she  became  gradually 
aware  that  his  was  a  face  of  some  distinction.  In 
brow,  cheek  bone  and  chin  there  was  enough 
prominence  to  suggest  native,  almost  primitive, 
strength.  The  lips  were  firmly  modeled,  and  the 
dark-gray  eyes  were  deep  and  grave. 

"  Miss  Sears !  "  he  had  said,  as  his  fingers 
touched  hers  at  the  meeting.  And  then,  even  after 
the  others  had  gone,  he  said  no  more. 

"  May  told  you  it  was  I !  "  Mistress  of  her- 
self though  she  was,  his  silence  put  her  ill  at  ease. 
And  then,  as  he  still  did  not  speak,  "  You  remem- 
ber me?"  she  added,  with  a  step  toward  the 
door. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  stood  motionless.  "  Remember  you  I  Have 
you  forgotten !  " 

"  Oh,  a  girl  knows !  After  much  less  than — 
How  many?  Almost  ten  years! — they  are  usu- 
ally married,  and  fathers  of  large  and  prosperous 
families.  They  are  caught  on  the  rebound,  as 
Meredith  puts  it — by  some  much  nicer  person !  " 

"They?"  he  questioned.  "It  is  a  charming 
vista  you  open  up  with  that  simple  pronoun.  Are 
there  so  many  of  them?  And  are  they  all — as 
Meredith  might  say — bounders?" 

"  I'm  very  fond  of  them.  I  resent  your  tone 
of  superiority!  " 

"  Then  consider  me  a  bounder  like  the  rest, 
and  be  fond  of  me !  " 

The  portentousness  of  his  manner  had  van- 
ished. In  each  of  his  lean  cheeks,  she  observed, 
was  a  mobile  hollow,  which  contrasted  curi- 
ously with  the  intentness  of  the  face  as  a  whole, 
and  which,  as  he  smiled  to  her,  cast  the  aura  of 
cheerfulness  upon  his  lips,  of  sweetness  into  his 
eyes. 

She  laughed,  triumphant. 

"  A  pretty  speech !  "  she  said.  "  From  you — 
who  have  neglected  me  for  years !  " 

"Neglected  you?" 

'  You  gave  up  polo — I  used  to  love  to  see  you 
play  polo.  And  they  say  you  never  dine  out  any 
more !  " 

10 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

As  a  young  graduate,  Wistar  had  gone  in  for 
the  brilliant  life  of  New  York  with  a  vigor  and 
success  characteristic  of  whatever  he  did.  But  his 
purpose  had  been  simply  to  be  thrown  with  her; 
and  when  she  was  lost  to  him,  all  that  was  left 
in  life,  he  felt,  was  to  crush  out  the  memory  of 
her  with  work. 

"  It's  my  business,"  he  said — "  the  machine 
shops  and  garages.  I  haven't  time  for  anything 
else." 

"  Do  you  mean  that — literally?" 

"  Sometimes  I  get  to  the  club  for  dinner.  Of- 
tener,  I  have  it  brought  in  where  I'm  working." 

She  looked  at  him,  incredulous,  horror-struck. 
"  Dinner  in  a  stuffy,  noisy  machine  shop,  in  an 
ill-smelling  garage!  How  can  a  real  man  live 
like  that?  It  is  the  life  of  a  cave  man!  " 

"A  cave  man?  Yes,  perhaps!  And  you — 
you  also  disappeared.  I  used  to  love  to  see  you 
— in  kid  and  satin,  with  one  of  those  osprey  spray 
things  up  on  top.  If  you'll  tell  me  why  you  dis- 
appeared, I'll  tell  you  why  I — am  a  cave  man." 

'  To  ride  always  on  borrowed  mounts,  to  be 
always  the  guest,  never  the  host — it  wasn't  pleas- 
ant. And  you  ?  " 

"  At  about  that  time  I  began  to  find  my  cave 
less  lonesome  than  the  gay  world."  The  smile 
flickered  out  of  his  cheeks,  giving  way  to  the  ha- 
bitual sadness.  Then,  as  if  commanding  a  lighter 

ii 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

mood,  he  added:  "  It  seems  I'm  the  only  one  of 
them  all — I  beg  pardon — of  all  of  us  \ — who's 
the  least  bit  constant." 

"  We've  never  met  a  score  of  times !  " 

"  It  was  only  eleven." 

"  A  wonderful  memory!  And  yet — only  eleven 
times!  I  feel  more  than  ever  that  you've  neg- 
lected me." 

"  You  forget  how  often  I — you  know ! — made 
my  little  petition !  Five  times — not  counting 
twice  when  you  managed  to  sidetrack  me." 

"  Five  times  in  eleven  meetings !  "  she  laughed. 
"  It  sounds  delightful !  Why  did  you  stop  ?  " 

The  smile  had  been  coming  and  going  as  he 
spoke,  like  heat  lightning  in  an  overcast  sky. 
Now  again  his  face  became  dark.  "  I  used  to 
bore  you,"  he  said. 

"  No,  not  just  bore  me.  You  used  to  frighten 
me." 

He  echoed  the  word  in  surprise. 
'  You're  rather  abrupt  and  masterful,  aren't 
you?  It's  a  way  with — cave  men.  That  was 
lucky  for  me!  If  you'd  been  as  you  are  to-day, 
no  girl  as  young  as  I  was  then  could  have  resisted 
you!" 

He  paused  to  consider  what  she  might  mean. 
"  I  understand,"  he  said  at  last,  "  and  I  thank 


you." 


What  do  you  understand? 

12 


He  paused  a  moment  and  then  said  simply, 
11  Penrhyn." 

His  laconic  directness  startled  her:  she  recalled 
that  it  had  always  done  so.  "  You've  heard  that? 
You,  the  cave  man?" 

"  To  be  accurate,  I  saw  it  in  the  paper." 

Quickly  recovering  herself,  she  answered  with 
noncommittal  lightness:  "When  you  wish  to  be 
accurate — you  consult  the  newspapers?" 

"  For  ten  years  I've  read  the  dreary  social  col- 
umn for  that  one  item.  Whenever  such  a  thing 
is  true,  won't  you  write  me  just  a  little  note  ?  Im- 
agine what  it  is  for  a  man  to  read  his  own  death 
notice — and  in  the  marriage  column !  " 

She  seemed  as  if  about  to  answer,  but  did  not. 

They  had  been  standing  by  a  window  through 
which  came  the  sound  of  seniors  cheering  things 
in  general  about  the  old  class  tree.  Now  the 
procession  started  round  the  Yard  on  the  way 
to  the  Stadium,  and  Onderdonk  solemnly  led  a 
cheer  for  each  of  the  college  buildings  as  they 
passed. 

"  Come !  "  she  said.  "  We're  supposed  to  get 
there  before  them." 

As  they  stepped  out  on  the  rough  granite  steps, 
the  column  paused  in  front  of  Holworthy  and 
raised  a  lusty  yell.  It  was  a  severely  simple 
building,  that  looked  all  of  its  two  hundred  years. 

If  this  cheering  had  been  a  part  of  the  day's 

13 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

exercises  in  Wistar's  time  he  had  forgotten  it. 
"  Nobody  told  me  they  would  do  that!  "  he  said, 
with  a  shrug  of  half-humorous  complaint. 

"You  find  it  absurd?" 

"  I  once  heard  a  ticket  chopper  in  the  Subway 
call  a  gang  of  undergraduates  '  rah-rah  boys.'  ' 

"Aren't  you  cynical?  I  find  rah-rah  boys 
charming." 

'  You  quoted  Meredith  just  now.  Do  you  re- 
member his  description  of  a  party  of  English  folk 
going  into  conventional  raptures  over  the  sunset? 
He  questioned  what  the  sensations  of  the  sun 
might  be,  contemplating  the  party  of  English 
folk.  Very  much  the  same,  I  suppose,  as  those 
of  Holworthy  Hall  on  being  cheered  by  the 
seniors.  It  makes  me  feel  very  old.  Perhaps  I 
oughtn't  to  have  come." 

"  Then  why  did  you?  " 

'  The  reason  is  personal."  But,  as  the  reply 
sounded  more  forbidding  than  he  intended,  he 
added:  "  Personal  to  you." 

If  he  had  expected  thus  to  dismiss  the  subject 
he  had  miscalculated.  "  I  don't  see  how  that  can 
be,"  she  said,  "  since  you  had  to  be  dragged  in 
to  see  me." 

"  I  hadn't  meant  to  come  at  all." 

"  Not  come  to  your  cousin's  Class  Day?  " 

"  I  had  forgotten  it." 

She  eyed  him  with  suspicion. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  I've  had  long  practise  in  forgetting.  Cave 
men,  you  know,  are  brave  about  mastodons  and 
hairy  mammoths,  but  they  have  a  primeval  terror 
of — this  sort  of  thing." 

He  looked  about  the  yard,  which  was  alive 
with  bevies  of  women,  mostly  very  young  and  in 
the  gayest  of  summer  frocks. 

"  But  your  cousin  is  first  marshal!  "  Her  sus- 
picion changed  to  reprobation. 

Sheepishly,  he  hung  his  head;  but  the  hollows 
in  his  lean  cheeks  beamed  shamelessly.  '  That's 
why  it  was  so  very  clever  of  me  to  be  able  to 
forget  it." 

"  Yet  you  came?  " 

"  As  I  said,  the  reason  is  personal."  Even  yet, 
in  his  simplicity,  he  relied  on  the  fact  to  dismiss 
the  subject. 

"  Perhaps  that  ought  to  lessen  my  curiosity. 
But  it  doesn't." 

Still  he  hesitated.  The  business  that  had 
brought  him  from  New  York  was,  in  a  sense,  per- 
sonal to  her.  Her  father  and  Mr.  Penrhyn  had 
of  late  given  evidence  that  they  were  in  earnest 
in  their  effort  to  combine  the  makers  of  motor 
cars — evidence  so  unmistakable  that  a  number  of 
manufacturers  who,  like  himself,  were  opposed 
to  the  project,  had  formed  a  counter  combination 
and  asked  him  to  take  control  of  it.  Before  con- 
senting, he  had  felt  obliged  to  consult  his  cousin. 

15 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

But  this  was  not  what  he  now  referred  to.  As  he 
had  stood  waiting  in  Boston  for  the  trolley  out  to 
Cambridge,  a  young  girl  had  peered  at  him  from 
a  passing  automobile,  and  he  had  recognized  Miss 
Sears's  sister,  May,  whom  he  had  last  seen  bare- 
legged, and  with  childish  yellow  curls  bobbing  on 
her  shoulders.  Two  of  the  party  in  the  car  were 
the  hostile  promoters.  The  fourth  was  veiled; 
but  in  every  outline  he  had  recognized  Miss  Sears. 
At  the  thought  that  she  had  passed  so  close  to 
him  he  had  felt  a  strange  delight  in  his  heart,  like 
that  which  falls  upon  the  ear  at  the  unexpected 
murmur  of  silken  garments.  Then  came  a  little 
shock  of  pain.  For  the  first  time  he  realized  that 
this  woman  whom  he  had  loved  and  lost  was  near- 
ing  thirty.  Even  to  the  rarest  womanly  character, 
he  felt,  the  passing  of  youth  was  a  tragedy.  He 
had  tasted  deep  and  bitter  waters  of  life.  Had 
she  done  so,  too?  When  his  car  came,  it  bore  on 
the  dashboard  a  legend  that  jogged  remembrance 
— Harvard  Class  Day.  For  years  she  had  been 
to  him  a  mere  memory,  unchanged  as  it  was  beau- 
tiful. Now,  in  the  gay  throngs,  he  might  see  her 
unseen,  and  read  in  her  face  the  record  of  that 
deeper  inward  being,  which  is  the  recompense 
life  brings  to  the  few  for  the  gladness  it  takes 
from  all. 

"  I  promise  not  to  be  embarrassed,"  Miss  Sears 
presently  prompted  him. 

16 


cc  A  young  girl   had   peered   at  him   from  a  passing  automobile. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  I  wanted  to  see  what  the  years  have  done  to 
you."  He  turned  his  eyes  full  upon  her.  Her 
abundant  hair,  which  was  light  brown  with  broad 
flames  of  gold  where  the  sun  struck  upon  it,  framed 
a  delicate,  clear-cut  face,  vigorous  as  ever,  and 
with  the  dewy  freshness  and  flush  radiance  of  a 
flower. 

She  met  his  glance  quite  frankly,  and  without 
resentment.  "  Go  on !  "  she  said. 

;'  There  is  really  no  change.  Your  color  is  even 
more  vivid  than  it  used  to  be." 

"Stupid!"  she  exclaimed.     "I'm  blushing!" 

He  kept  his  eye  upon  her,  and  saw  her  color 
deepen. 

"  Are  you  trying  to  cheer  me,"  she  asked,  "  as 
the  rah-rah  boys  cheer  the  ancient  college  build- 
ings?" 

He  shook  his  head.  "  I  don't  find  what  I 
hoped." 

"And  that  is ?" 

"  To  every  face,  sooner  or  later,  the  years  bring 
one  or  two  changes — the  change  which  destroys 
youthful  beauty,  or  that  which  leads  it  forward 
to  the  beauty  of  maturity  and  age." 

She  gave  an  actual,  physical  start.  "  And  which 
have  I?" 

"  Neither,  as  yet.  Ten  years  have  left  you 
where  you  were." 

She  laughed  outright,  and  exclaimed  a  little 
17 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

harshly:  "You  tell  me  that  I  look  eighteen,  but 
it  is  as  if  you  said  that  I  am  remarkably  well  pre- 
served! "  She  hurried  along  the  brick  walk  that 
skirts  the  yard,  toward  the  straggling  rear  of  the 
procession  on  its  way  to  the  Stadium,  and  he  fol- 
lowed in  silence. 

As  long  as  he  had  remembered  her  in  the  glam- 
our of  his  distant  memories,  he  had  not  really  be- 
lieved that  she  could  have  any  genuine  feeling  for 
a  man  like  Penrhyn.  But  with  this  intrusion  of 
what  seemed  a  touch  of  the  commonplace  came 
also  a  doubt  and  a  fear.  There  are  avenues  of 
the  mind  along  which  the  most  dignified  are  open 
to  jealousy. 

They  were  walking  now  along  the  rods  of  broad 
canvas  spread  out  to  protect  white  slippers  and 
skirts  from  the  summer  dust.  As  they  crossed 
the  bridge  over  the  Charles,  Judith  spoke  of  the 
association  of  the  place,  familiar  to  the  long 
friendship  of  Longfellow  and  Lowell.  "  Smooth 
as  our  Charles,"  she  quoted. 

His  answer  harked  back  to  their  previous  con- 
versation. "  I  am  sorry  you  took  what  I  said  as 
you  did." 

"  It  was  unfair.     I  had  promised." 

"  Not  so  unfair  to  me  as  to  yourself — to  your 
old  self,  as  I  once  knew  you !  I  spoke  of  things 
as  they  are — to  those  who  look  upon  life  simply. 
Your  answer  was  as  conventional  as  the  women 

18 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

of  the  stage,  or  the  comic  papers.  What  has  hap- 
pened to  change  you?  There  was  a  time  when 
you  would  not  have  spoken  so." 

"  There  was  a  time  when  I  was  too  young  to 
fear  '  what  the  years  might  bring.' ' 

"  I  had  hoped  you  would  always  be  too  young 
for  that.  Only  those  who  are  already  old  fear 
to  lose  the  semblance  of  youth." 

She  looked  at  him,  her  color  mounting  again, 
but  not  from  embarrassment.  "  There  was  a  time 
when  you  would  not  have  been  positively,  inten- 
tionally rude !  " 

He  met  her  glance,  accusing  and  masterful. 
"  I  spoke  honestly.  Not  to  do  so  is  the  only  thing 
I  count  rude." 

Her  eyes  flashed  into  his.  "  I  am  afraid  to 
grow  old !  "  she  said.  "  Or  rather,  as  you  so 
accurately  put  it,  I  am  afraid  to  seem  to  grow  old. 
But  not  for  the  reason  you  imagine!  You  speak 
of  '  things  as  they  are.'  How  do  you  presume  to 
know  what  they  are?" 

It  was'  the  first  time  he  had  ever  seen  her  angry, 
and,  by  some  occult  working  of  his  nature,  the 
sight  filled  him  for  the  first  time  with  a  sense  of 
power.  "  All  that  I  said,  I  know,"  he  answered. 
"If  there  is  anything  else ?" 

"There  is  my  father!  "  She  told  him  of  his 
repeated  failures,  and  his  dogged  efforts  to  re- 
trieve them.  As  she  spoke,  her  voice  softened, 

19 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

and  with  little  unconscious  touches  she  revealed 
a  wealth  of  filial  loyalty  and  affection. 

Wistar  did  not  at  first  catch  her  drift;  but  he 
was  none  the  less  interested.  He  had  himself 
been  a  devoted  son. 

"  Time  and  again  I  have  begged  him  to  give 
up  affairs.  The  last  time  things  went  wrong,  a 
year  ago,  almost  nothing  was  left  but  what  was 
mine — the  house  we  live  in,  and  ever  so  little  be- 
sides. It  made  him  wretchedly  unhappy.  I  was 
worried,  and  must  have  looked  ill.  Somehow  he 
came  to  believe  that  I  was  old.  I  am,  you  know 
— you  are  right!  He  thought  I  was  worried  for 
myself:  with  his  old-fashioned  ideas  about  girls, 
he  never  understands  why  I  haven't  married." 
She  stopped  as  if  to  consider  what  she  had  said, 
what  she  might  say. 

The  jealousy  of  which  Wistar  was  only  half 
conscious  was  yet  strong  enough  to  quicken  every 
faculty.  Why  had  she  not  married?  And  how 
was  the  fact  that  she  had  not  related  to  this  af- 
fair with  Penrhyn?  A  year  ago,  he  remembered, 
Sears  had  shot  himself  through  the  shoulder. 
There  had  been  talk  of  attempted  suicide;  but  the 
fact  that  his  daughter  was  with  him  at  the  time, 
and  that  the  ball,  as  it  seemed,  had  not  been  di- 
rected toward  a  vital  part,  was  taken  as  proof  that 
the  shot  was  accidental.  Wistar  wondered  whether 
things  had  happened  just  as  the  world  believed. 

20 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Some  weak  men  take  their  lives  from  disappointed 
ambition.  More,  and  more  generous,  men  reach 
the  final  despair  through  failure  in  the  cause  of 
those  they  love. 

"  He  promised  to  retire  then,"  Judith  contin- 
ued in  a  lighter  tone,  "  but  presently  he  went  in 
for  this  new  idea,  which  he  thinks  the  best  of  all." 

"  And  you  gave — what  you  have — to  help 
him?" 

'  That  was  easily  done.  What  I  find  hard  is 
to  keep  up  his  courage  through  it  all — to  make 
him  not  be  afraid  of  failure.  As  long  as  he  be- 
lieves I'm  not  faded  and  ugly — that  some  one  may 
yet  be  induced  to  marry  me! — he  thinks  I'm  pro- 
vided for.  Oh,  /  know  the  things  that  keep  your 
skin  fresh  and  soft!  /  wear  a  motor  veil!  I'm 
careful  in  the  matter  of  beauty  sleep !  After  this 
venture,  if  it  succeeds,  the  lines  may  sink  in  as  they 
please — or  as  you  wish!  " 

Again  came  the  thought  of  Penrhyn.  "  And 
if  it  fails?" 

"  It  won't  fail.  But  if  it  does,  there's  still 
rouge,  and  then  enamel!  You  don't  think  father 
would  know  the  difference?  " 

"  He  would,"  said  Wistar,  again  accusing, 
"  for  the  difference  would  be  in  you." 

Her  resentment  rose  again,  though  this  time 
veiled  in  mockery.  "You  serious  man!"  she 
laughed.  "You  are  shocked!  Don't  forget 

21 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

that  there  are  those  of  us  for  whom  to  grow  old 
gracefully  and  at  leisure  is  a  luxury  unattainable. 
When  you  see  painted  women  at  the  theater,  re- 
member that !  " 

"Stop— please!" 

"  Or,  at  the  worst,  there  is  still  the  alternative 
of  marriage!  " 

The  thrust  was  no  doubt  unintentional.  But 
none  the  less  it  went  home. 


22 


T 


CHAPTER    III 

HE  solid  cement  arches  of  the  Stadium 
loomed  before  them,  vast  as  those  of 
the  Coliseum,  with  the  grain  of  the 
rough  board  matrices  still  evident  in 
the  gray-white  surface.  Mounting  one  of  the 
many  staircases  within  the  soaring  gloom,  they 
emerged  again  into  the  gay  sunlight,  and  found 
their  party  seated  in  the  front  row.  May  so  man- 
aged that  she  and  Penrhyn  sat  on  one  side  of 
Sears,  with  Judith  and  Wistar  on  the  other.  Then 
she  quite  shamelessly  devoted  herself  to  her  fa- 
ther, leaving  Penrhyn  alone  in  the  midst  of  the 
college  world  to  which  he  was  a  stranger. 

The  huge  structure,  built  like  a  letter  U  about 
the  football  field  and  running  track,  was  far  too 
large  for  even  that  considerable  gathering.  The 
curved  end  of  it,  as  it  happened,  had  lately  been 
used  for  the  production  of  a  Greek  tragedy  in 
the  manner  of  the  Theater  of  Dionysus,  and  the 
fagade  of  the  Palace  of  Agamemnon  was  still 
standing  in  all  the  rich  brilliancy  of  Attic  color. 
The  Class-Day  guests  filled  every  seat  to  the 

23 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

lofty  skyline,  and  the  predominance  of  young  girls 
in  summer  costume  gave  the  effect  of  a  gigantic 
bed  of  white  tulips  scattered  with  variegated 
color. 

Already  the  seniors  had  taken  their  place  in  the 
center  of  what  in  classic  phrase  would  be  called 
the  orchestra;  and  the  graduates  were  filing  in  in 
the  order  of  their  classes,  and  squatting  on  the 
ground  in  a  circle  about  them.  Prominent  among 
these  were  the  classes  that  had  come  back  for 
their  reunions  of  three  years,  ten  years,  fifteen 
years,  twenty-five  years,  and  even  fifty  years  after 
graduation.  As  the  youthful  triennials  entered 
with  measured  tread  they  all  at  once  lifted  their 
hats  to  the  ladies,  swept  them  grandly  to  the  left, 
to  the  right,  then  upward  and  down  to  the  ground 
with  a  magnificent  bow.  There  was  a  ripple  of 
subdued  laughter  at  the  intentional  absurdity  of 
it,  and  then  the  classes  already  sitting  rose  and 
welcomed  the  newcomers  with  a  cheer. 

In  the  section  in  which  Onderdonk's  party  sat 
there  was  an  unusual  number  of  men,  and  they 
overheard  some  one  behind  them  exclaim:  "We 
ought  to  return  the  compliment.  There's  Jimmy 
Wistar.  It's  up  to  him  to  lead!  "  After  a  mo- 
ment a  voice  with  a  trace  of  excited  brogue 
shouted,  "  James,  old  man !  Raise  a  racket,  can't 
you?" 

Wistar  was  on  his  feet  in  an  instant.  "  Pe- 
24 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

dey !  "  he  cried.  His  long  arm  reached  over  two 
rows,  and  he  grasped  the  fist  of  the  stocky  Irish- 
man, who  was  seated  with  a  party  of  homely,  if 
rather  showily  dressed,  women  folk.  When  Wis- 
tar  sat  down  he  was  beaming  with  good-fellowship. 
"  That's  the  finest  lad  in  the  world,"  he  said,  "  and 
the  best  quarterback!  " 

"  Then  why  is  it  up  to  you  to  lead  the  cheer- 
ing?" asked  Judith  quizzically.  The  incident, 
trifling  as  it  was,  reminded  her  of  a  fact  which 
Wistar's  modesty  always  made  her  forget — that 
he  was  a  man  of  some  distinction;  and  his  recent 
remarks  to  her  had,  among  other  things,  quick- 
ened her  interest  in  him. 

"  It  isn't  up  to  me.  It's  up  to  Pedey  Ryan. 
He's  the  man  that  scored  the  touchdown  in  the 
first  game  we  had  won  from  Yale  in  fifteen  years, 
and  by  a  plan  he  got  out  of  his  own  head,  too !  " 

Judith  asked  for  particulars. 

"  He  showed  me  how  to  make  a  hole  for  him, 
and  when  the  time  came  he  shot  through  it  like 
a  bullet  and  over  the  goal  line." 

"  But  it  was  you  who  made  the  hole?  " 

''  The  regular  guard  was  laid  up.  I  was  never 
a  real  football  man.  Besides,  Pedey  served 
through  the  Cuban  war — a  Rough  Rider.  And 
since  then  he's  been  mixed  up  in  all  sorts  of  South 
American  revolutions — a  general  and  a  states- 
man!" 

3  25 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  decennials  came  around  the  corner  of  the 
Palace   of  Agamemnon,    and   cries    for   "  Jimmy 
Wistar  "  rose  from  several  sides. 
'  Yet  they  all  seem  to  know  you?  " 
'  They  only  think  they  do.    No  one  who  knows 
me  ever  calls  me  Jimmy.     I'm  a  very  serious  per- 
son.    They  always  call  me  James — me  and  the 
footman." 

As  the  decennials  saluted  the  ladies,  the  cry, 
'Jimmy  Wistar,  give  them  a  cheer!  "  was  taken 
up  by  several  men  in  chorus.  Wistar  turned  again 
upon  Ryan.  "  You  lead,  Pedey,"  he  commanded. 
"  They  all  know  you  !  "  Then  he  said  to  Judith : 
"  I  haven't  been  back  in  ten  years — since  I  grad- 
uated." 

Ryan  got  up  and  spoke  rebukingly. 

Wistar's  reply  was  to  march  up  the  aisle  and 
pull  him  out  to  the  front  row.  "  Now  do  your 
duty !  "  he  said. 

But  the  little  man  gripped  the  big  one  around 
the  body  in  an  arm  of  steel,  and  while  he  called 
for  a  cheer  held  him  standing. 

The  leader  of  the  decennials — Wistar's  class — 
recognized  them  as  he  passed,  and  called  on  his 
classmates  for  a  cheer  for  Wistar  and  Ryan. 
"  You  fellows  know  why!  "  he  added. 

Wistar  shrank  into  his  seat. 

"  Ye're  right  to  be  ashamed  of  yerself !  "  Ryan 
cried,  relapsing  further  into  the  bogs  of  his 

26 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

brogue.  "  You  who  for  ten  long  years  have  niver 
lifted  your  v'ice  for  the  dear  old  plass!  "  Then 
his  eye  fell  upon  Penrhyn,  and  a  thing  happened 
which,  though  Wistar  was  now  scarcely  aware  of 
it,  he  remembered  by  and  by  with  the  utmost  vivid- 
ness. Ryan  offered  Penrhyn  his  hand  in  the  man- 
ner of  an  old  friend,  and  was  met  with  a  look  of 
studied  distance  and  indifference. 

Wistar  perforce  led  the  cheering  alone.  He 
soon  caught  the  spirit  of  the  moment.  When  two 
old  boys  of  the  class  of  fifty  years  gone  by  passed 
them,  erect  and  conscious,  he  called  for  three  times 
nine,  and  after  he  had  led  the  long  cheer,  eager 
and  enthusiastic,  yet  precise  in  the  count,  he  was 
hoarse. 

"Who's  the  rah-rah  boy  now?"  Judith  de- 
manded. Her  eyes  were  shining,  but  her  voice 
still  had  a  trace  of  acid. 

"You  are  right!"  said  Wistar  huskily.  "I 
haven't  had  so  much  fun  since " 

"Since  when?" 

"  For  ten  years." 

"  Since  you  were  here  before,"  she  said. 

This  time  Wistar  did  not  need  to  be  told  that 
she  was  blushing. 

In  a  moment,  however,  she  rallied.  u  I  won- 
der," she  said  demurely,  "  when  it  is  a  man  who 
has  missed  '  the  beauty  of  maturity  and  age,' 
whether  there  isn't  some  paint  or  enamel  of  the 

27 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

spirit  that  will  keep  him  from  appearing  stupidly 
cynical." 

"  I  shall  have  need  to  put  it  on,  in  the  spirit, 
when  you  put  it  on  the  flesh." 

The  ivy  orator  spoke  his  piece,  and  among 
other  pleasantries,  apologized  for  the  recent  pres- 
ence of  such  a  matron  as  Mrs.  Agamemnon  in 
such  a  place  as  Cambridge.  There  were  songs 
from  the  Glee  Club,  and  finally  Onderdonk  got 
up  and  called  for  cheers  for  the  four  leading  var- 
sity teams.  When  he  came  to  the  eleven,  he  gave 
way  to  the  second  marshal;  and  what  was  really 
an  act  of  modesty  reminded  everybody  that  in 
this  very  field  he  had  shown  himself  one  of  the 
pluckiest  and  most  brilliant  halfbacks  of  the  year. 
Then  he  called  for  a  cheer  for  the  nine,  taking 
pains  to  describe  it  as  The  Baseball  Team.  This 
almost  broke  the  jaws  that  shouted  it;  and  when 
the  eminent  and  long-practiced  leader  of  the 
graduates  got  up  to  repeat  the  cheer  in  order, 
he  said,  "  Three  times  three  for  the  Nine.'1'1  In 
the  cheer  that  followed  the  word  came  out  sharp 
and  strong — and  there  was  a  burst  of  laughter 
from  the  undergraduates  at  the  expense  of  the 
eminent  graduate.  "  Nine "  meant  the  fresh- 
man class  of  '09.  When  the  laughter  subsided, 
the  leader  of  the  freshmen  got  up,  and  with  elab- 
orate mockery  led  a  return  cheer  for  the  grad- 
uates. 

28 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

All  of  a  sudden  the  air  lighted  up  with  showers 
of  Japanese  paper  confetti  and  serpentine  stream- 
ers. The  wind  was  softly  blowing,  and  as  it  ed- 
died about  the  scenic  palace  and  into  the  vast 
semicircle  of  the  Stadium  it  sent  the  brilliant  mis- 
siles swirling  and  floating  on  high.  It  was  as  if 
a  summer  breeze  had  run  riot  in  the  rainbow,  and 
was  scattering  its  shimmer  of  fragments  in  sport. 
Even  the  two  oldest  graduates  tossed  up  radiant 
handfuls  amid  aged  smiles.  The  more  recent 
graduates  bombarded  the  ladies  with  tubes  of  con- 
fetti and  wads  of  streamers  caught  up  from  the 
ground.  A  carnival  of  indiscriminate  gallantry 
sprang  up — or  rather,  of  discriminate  gallantry, 
for  one  pelted  one's  neighbor  for  the  best  and 
most  sufficient  reason  that  one  liked  the  looks  of 
her. 

A  few  of  the  young  women  in  the  front  seats 
became  special  targets  for  the  surging  mob  below. 
Judith  defended  herself,  laughing.  But  May, 
reckless  of  all  consequences  to  her  clothes,  seized 
the  paper  and  hurled  it  back — with  the  result 
that  her  hat  was  soon  awry  and  her  hair  pow- 
dered with  variegated  spangles  and  stars.  The 
wads  of  brilliant  paper,  Wistar  noted,  gathered 
at  the  feet  of  the  two  women  of  his  party  in 
drifts  and  mounds.  And  in  spite  of  Judith's 
added  touch  of  dignity  her  share  in  the  boister- 
ous tribute  was  no  less  than  May's.  His  heart 

29 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

warmed  with  pride.  But  he  did  not  reflect  that 
if  she  had  proved  as  he  hoped  it  might  not  have 
been  so. 

As  Onderdonk  passed  along,  leading  the  seniors, 
his  office  protected  him  from  the  rustling  bom- 
bardment; but  when  he  came  opposite  May,  that 
irrepressible  young  lady  gathered  up  the  debris 
at  her  feet  in  armfuls,  and  ran  along  the  half- 
emptied  stand,  bubbling  with  laughter,  and 
launching  the  missiles  upon  the  marshal's  head  of 
resolute,  if  unaccustomed,  dignity.  When  she 
had  exhausted  her  armory,  she  sank  breathless 
upon  a  seat. 

Judith  bent  Over  May  to  straighten  her  hat, 
and  Penrhyn  made  occasion  to  pick  the  confetti 
out  of  her  hair  and  brush  it  with  his  handkerchief 
from  her  ears.  Wistar  stood  by  and  carefully 
collected  the  bits  of  paper  as  Penrhyn  let  them 
fall.  With  eyes  dancing,  cheeks  crimsoned  with 
excitement,  and  the  sun  illuminating  her  masses 
of  yellow  hair,  May  was  certainly  the  sort  of 
young  creature  that  boys  of  all  ages  delight  to 
meddle  with. 

When  Penrhyn  had  ended  his  self-appointed 
task  he  saw  what  Wistar  had  been  doing. 
"What's  that  for?"  he  said. 

It  was  the  first  time  he  had  found  occasion  to 
speak  to  Wistar,  and  his  voice  had  an  instinctive 
tone  of  hostility. 

30 


THE     C  A  V  E     MAN 

"  She  was  so  pretty  in  all  this,  I  was  hoping 
she'd  let  me  put  some  of  it  back." 

"  I  too,"  said  Judith. 

Penrhyn's  manner  changed,  and  he  shrugged 
good-naturedly.  "  What  you  say  in  this  section 
goes !  "  he  laughed  to  Wistar. 

Judith  cast  a  few  flakes  into  the  golden  hair, 
and  Wistar,  shoulder  touching  shoulder  with  her, 
placed  a  red  star  in  one  ear,  a  white  star  in  the 
other.  Clumsy  as  he  was,  he  found  it  necessary 
to  take  her  soft,  firm  chin  and  each  pink  lobe  in 
his  fingers.  May  shrugged  prettily  at  his  touch, 
like  a  wild-wood  creature,  and  half  raised  her 
hand.  Wistar  caught  it,  and  kissed  it  lightly. 

"Have  I  been  bad?"  he  asked  of  Judith,  as 
they  walked  on  in  the  wake  of  the  departing 
crowds. 

Her  answer  was  to  show  him  a  handful  of 
tangled  streamers  and  stars.  "  I  am  saving  them 
up  for  May  to  remember  this  by.  It's  her  first 
Class  Day,  and  you  know  she  never  has  had  her 
share  of  fun,  poor  baby.  I  hadn't  an  idea  you 
understood  such  things." 

"  I  haven't — for  ten  years,"  he  said.  Then  he 
added  equivocally,  watching  the  faint  flush  come 
as  he  did  so :  "  since  I  was  up  here  last !  " 

He  had  understood.  Penrhyn  had  not.  Hu- 
man hope  has  often  clung  to  slenderer  straws. 


I 


CHAPTER    IV 

T  was  not  until  evening  that  Wistar 
found  himself  again  alone  with  Ju- 
dith, for  Penrhyn  was  expert  in  all 
the  minor  arts  of  address.  Even 
then,  though  he  did  not  know  it,  he  once  more 
owed  his  fortune  to  the  younger  Miss  Sears.  They 
were  wandering  on  the  outskirts  of  the  throng 
that  had  gathered  around  the  Glee-Club  platform 
in  the  Yard.  All  about  them  was  the  low,  happy 
babble  of  the  crowds,  which  blended  pleasantly 
with  the  singing,  sentimental  and  gay. 

"  About  your  father's  venture — with  Pen- 
rhyn," he  said  abruptly;  "you  know  I've  refused 
to  join  in  it?  " 

"You  don't  believe  in  it?" 
"Do  you?" 

She  hesitated,  then  said  quite  simply:     "When 
I   found  how  eager  Mr.   Penrhyn  was,  I  urged 
father  to  go  in  with  him." 
He  was  silent. 

She  looked  up  at  him  with  an  expression  at  once 
subtle  and  frank.  "  You  may  say  it,"  she  said. 

32 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  evanescent  smile  came  into  the  hollows  be- 
yond the  corners  of  his  mouth. 

"  I  find  I  don't  have  to." 

"  We've  played  the  game  of  truth  once  al- 
ready," she  said,  with  quiet  humor.  "  You  would 
rather  have  me  say  it !  " 

He  smiled  ruefully.      '  Very  much." 

"  Well,  then :  Mr.  Penrhyn  has  already  shown 
himself  one  of  the  boldest  and  cleverest  of  the 
younger  men  on  Wall  Street.  The  fact  that 
he  has  taken  up  with  father's  idea  is  evidence 
that  it  is  a  good  one.  But  that's  not  what  you 
wouldn't  say!  It  is  known  that  he  has  ideas 
—  how  shall  I  express  it?  —  ideas  above  Wall 
Street." 

"  Above   Wall   Street — geographically." 

"You  are  abominably  precise!  "  She  laughed 
a  little  dubiously.  "  Personally,  father  and  I  both 
like  Mr.  Penrhyn." 

She  had  told  him  everything — except  what  he 
most  wanted  to  hear.  How  much  did  she  "  like  " 
this  man?  "  If  I  were  omniscient,"  he  said,  "  I 
couldn't  have  been  half  as  explicit — or  anywhere 
near  as  unfathomable." 

"Don't  you  see?"  she  said,  and  her  master- 
hood  of  the  noncommittal  mounted  higher.  "  In 
either  case  it  would  be  wrong  to  let  him  go  on 
for  any  but  the  most  practical  reasons — the  most 
unpersonal !  " 

33 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Again  he  was  silent.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  the  manufacturer,  combination  might  bring 
stability  and  increased  earnings;  but,  as  far  as  he 
could  see,  there  was  no  such  prospect  of  profit 
as  would  attract  the  practical  financier.  It  was 
true  that  if  a  monopoly  could  be  gained  on  any 
essential  part  of  the  raw  material  of  the  motor 
car,  such  as  rubber  for  the  tires,  the  opportuni- 
ties for  a  trust  would  be  magnificent;  but  he  could 
not  see  that  such  a  monopoly  was  possible.  Until 
to-day  he  had  thought  of  the  project  as  one  of 
the  palpably  impracticable  devices  of  Wall  Street 
— an  exuberance  of  wild-cat  finance  on  the  back 
fence.  But  in  view  of  what  Judith  had  said — 
and  of  what  she  had  left  unsaid — Penrhyn's  per- 
sistence in  it  took  new  meaning.  The  greatest 
of  financiers — to  the  outward  view  mere  captains 
of  industry  whose  profession  it  is  to  command 
profit  and  defeat  loss — have  been  notoriously 
swayed  by  private  loves  and  hates,  even  petty 
rivalries  and  unreasoning  jealousies.  Wistar  had 
no  cause  to  think  Penrhyn  above  the  common  lot. 
If  his  project  succeeded  Penrhyn  would  have  re- 
stored Judith  and  her  father  to  the  world  of  luxury 
and  distinction  in  which  they  once  had  been  leaders. 
If  it  failed  they  would  be  ruined,  and  Penrhyn 
would  have  a  strong  hold  on  her  through  her 
father's  necessities,  which  were  hers.  Heads  I 
win,  tails  you  lose  was  the  game  he  was  playing. 

34 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

And  he  had  asked  Wistar  to  make  himself  an  ally 
in  that  game. 

"  You  will  have  to  say  it  now,"  she  prompted. 

"  Your  reasoning  is  perfect — except  in  the  case 
of  a  man  who  chose'  to  befriend  you  for  motives 
he  didn't  wish  to  own." 

She  reddened.  '  To  buy  my  regard?  Can  you 
imagine  such  an  insult?  With  a  right-minded 
girl,  can  you  imagine  any  course  less  likely  to 
succeed !  " 

The  success  of  such  an  attempt,  Wistar  saw, 
would  depend  upon  keeping  the  motive  dark, 
but  already  he  had  an  uncomfortable  sense  of 
implying  evil  of  his  rival.  "  Of  course,"  he 
said,  with  as  much  conviction  as  he  could  com- 
mand, "  Mr.  Penrhyn  believes  in  what  he  pro- 
poses." 

"  I  know  that  he  does." 

The  sun  had  not  yet  set,  but  already  twilight 
was  gathering  among  the  dense  green  elm-tree 
tops  that  roofed  the  yard.  Beneath  the  branches, 
Japanese  lanterns  began  to  float  and  shine,  like 
bubbles  that  had  risen  to  the  surface  of  a  caldron 
of  seething  gayety. 

"And  you,  Mr.  Wistar!  Do  you  think  the 
venture  bad?  " 

"  It  might  work  out  very  profitably — if  it 
weren't  for  us  fellows  who  are  against  it." 

'  Then  the  fact  that  you  are  against  it ?  " 

35 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  explained  that  he  had  had  experience  of  the 
trusts  and  felt  very  strongly  against  them. 

She  admitted  the  danger,  but  protested  that, 
under  honest  management,  it  need  not  be  consid- 
ered. And  then  she  outlined  the  advantage  of 
consolidation,  urging,  and  with  arguments  of 
weight,  that  within  clearly  definable  limits,  the 
control  of  prices,  the  manipulation  of  markets, 
even  speculative  investments — buying  on  margin, 
selling  short,  and  all  the  devices  of  Wall  Street — 
were  elements  of  health  and  power.  There  was 
knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  affairs  in  what 
she  said.  And  she  spoke  simply,  with  ever-pres- 
ent lightness  and  charm.  It  was  a  phase  of  her 
mind  which  he  had  not  encountered  in  the  old 
days — which  had  probably  not  existed. 

He  recalled  the  saying  that  no  woman  is  worth 
talking  to  until  she  is  thirty,  or  worth  looking  at 
after  it.  She  lacked  only  two  or  three  years  of 
the  mark;  and  yet,  vitally  interested  as  he  was  in 
what  she  was  saying,  he  found  himself,  from  time 
to  time,  forgetting  it  in  the  sheer  joy  of  gazing 
into  her  face  as  she  spoke.  In  the  corner  of  her 
eyes  little  radiant  lines  appeared  and  vanished; 
beyond  the  corners  of  her  mouth  the  soft,  firm, 
deep-tinted  cheeks  crinkled  when  she  smiled.  It 
had  always  been  so,  he  now  recalled,  though  it 
was  a  trait  which  had  vanished  from  his  idealized 
memory  of  her.  And  the  lines,  far  from  sug- 

36 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

gesting  a  wrinkle,  were  as  always  part  and  parcel 
of  her  own  rare  youth  and  charm. 

She  was  quick  to  see  that  his  attention  wan- 
dered— though  not  the  reason  for  this;  and  as 
quickly  she  broke  into  a  lighter  vein.  "  Do  you 
know,  with  all  one  hears  about  trust-busters,  you 
are  the  only  one  I  have  ever  met?  Are  you  such 
a  conservative?  But  I  had  forgotten!  Cave  men 
usually  are  conservatives,  aren't  they?  No  doubt, 
when  our  ancestors  of  the  early  bronze  age  began 
to  chop  wood  and  build  houses  In  the  fertile  val- 
leys, cave  men  up  on  the  rugged  hills  called  them 
immoral,  and  made  war  on  them  with  paleolithic 
clubs.  But  mind  you,  the  bronze  age  won !  " 

Wistar  did  not  answer. 

"  Then  you  really  mean  to  fight  us?  " 

"  I'm  afraid  so.  It  was  to  persuade  my  cousin 
to  do  so  that  I  came.  What  you  have  told  me — 
it  has  made  me  unhappy,  very!  All  my  life  the 
only  thing  I  ever  really  cared  for  was  to  be  of 
service  to  you.  And  there  has  been  only  one  lit- 
tle thing  I  have  ever  been  able  to  do — a  little 
thing  to  you,  though  not  to  me." 

She  gave  him  an  inquiring  glance. 

"  So  little  that  you  don't  even  know  what  it 
was!" 

"  I  should  like  to  know." 

"  It  was  what  you  call  neglecting  you.  It  took 
courage,  that,  for  you  are  the  only  one  I  have 

37 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ever  had  to  admit  as  master.  But  now,  I'm 
afraid,  I  shan't  even  be  able  to  neglect  you — I 
shall  be  obliged  to  wage  warfare  on  you  and  those 
you  hold  most  dear — a  very  hard  and  bitter,  per- 
haps fatal  warfare!  And  if  this  last  hope  of  your 
father's  comes  to  nothing—  He  broke  off, 
thinking  of  what  only  to-day  she  had  said  of  his 
latest  failure,  and  then:  "Can't  you  dissuade 
him?" 

"  I'm  afraid  not.     He  is  Very  obstinate.     And 
you?" 

"On  that  subject  I'm  obstinate,  too!" 
Wistar  had  spoken  boldly  enough;  but  into  his 
heart,  so  long  heavy  and  dead,  there  had  lately 
crept  a  hope  which  he  struggled  in  vain  to  banish. 
To  be  at  an  equal  advantage  with  Penrhyn,  he 
had  only  to  see  the  new  order  as  she  had  so  clearly 
sketched  it.  And  might  she  not  be  right?  The 
nickname  she  had  shot  at  him  was  a  strange  one; 
but  somehow  he  felt  it  had  stuck  in  the  target. 
Only  this  morning  he  had  dwelt  on  the  rugged 
hills — out  of  touch  with  the  young  life  about 
him;  and  it  had  taken  half  an  hour  with  her  to 
make  him  cheer  like  a  Comanche.  For  ten  years 
he  had  lived  in  an  ideal  of  her,  and  she  had  shat- 
tered it  at  a  blow,  giving  him  the  infinitely  finer 
and  sweeter  reality.  Had  not  his  scruples  against 
what  her  father  proposed  been  as  dry  as  his  distaste 
for  the  boisterous  ways  of  the  undergraduate,  as 

38 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

sentimental  as  his  notion  of  what  she  should  have 
been?  Had  not  his  long  years  of  labor,  his  self- 
tormenting  and  futile  efforts  to  forget  her,  made 
him  less  than  a  man  of  the  human  world?  He 
would  have  found  it  easier  to  convince  himself  if 
he  had  not  been  sensible  of  the  most  human  desire 
to  do  so.  Then  came  temptation.  If  he  should 
go  back  on  his  principles — after  all,  they  were  only 
his  principles — and,  like  his  rival,  lapse  from  stern 
rectitude  in  dealing  with  her?  He  reddened  at 
the  thought,  and  at  the  leap  his  heart  gave  in 
answer  to  it.  But  it  came  to  him  again  and  again. 

By  this  time  the  movement  of  the  crowd  about 
the  Glee-Club  stand  had  carried  them  toward  its 
vortex,  and  Wistar  became  suddenly  aware  that 
it  was  crushing  Judith  close  to  his  side — so  close 
that  he  felt  every  motion  of  her  slow,  deep  breath- 
ing. Again  his  pulse  leaped.  Then  it  seemed  to 
stand  still.  In  all  the  long  years  he  had  never 
realized  until  that  instant  how  vast,  how  untrav- 
ersable,  were  the  distances  that  separated  her 
heart  from  his.  Yet  still  he  felt  her  deep,  uncon- 
scious breathing. 

With  sudden  strength,  almost  violence,  he 
forced  their  way  out  of  the  crowd. 

"Oh,  dear!"  she  exclaimed,  "I  did  want  to 
hear  the  rest  of  the  song.  Do  you  know  it?  " 

He  had  not  heard  the  song. 

"  It  went  something  like  this: 
39 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"How  well  I  remember  the  days  of  Sixty-one, 

When  the  cannon  balls  were  flying  by  the  peck ! 
Along  came  a  cannon  ball,  a-whizzin'  through  the  air, 
And  hit  Bill  Jones  on  the  neck. 

Now  what  did  happen  to  Bill?  " 

He  groped  for  a  while  in  the  memories  of  his 
undergraduate  days,  and  repeated: 

"Then  up  jumped  Bill  ;  and  says  he  :    '  My  neck  is  tough  ; 

They're  a-tryin'  fer  to  kill  me,  but  they  can't! ' 
Those  good  old  days,  beneath  the  stars  and  stripes, 
When  we  fit  for  General  Grant!  " 

As  they  walked  on  in  silence,  she  was  smiling 
at  the  inconsequent  gayety  of  the  glee.  But  his 
arteries,  where  she  had  brushed  against  him,  were 
running  liquid  fire.  He  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  af- 
terlight of  the  sunset,  which  shone  between  the 
ancient  college  buildings.  It  was  as  if  the  west- 
ern heavens  were  ground  full  of  powdered  gold. 

"Well?"  she  inquired. 

"  I  was  thinking  of  the  dust  that  makes  the  sky 
so  bright.  You  know  it  is  dust,  don't  you? 
— dust  from  the  roads  and  the  dry  hilltops;  pol- 
len, too,  perhaps,  from  the  fading  flowers.  Some 
time,  in  the  many,  many  centuries  to  come,  these 
bodies  that  now  are  you  and  I  may  meet  and 
mingle,  way  up  there." 

She  paused,  considering.  "  It  sounds  delight- 
40 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ful — and,  unlike  most  delightful  things,  quite 
proper." 

"  I  shall  regard  it  as  an  engagement !  When 
I  am  beaten  up  from  the  road  by  hoofs  and 
wheels,  I  shall  rise  and  find  up  there  the  dust  of 
a  rose." 

They  walked  on  in  silence.  He  was  wrestling 
now  with  his  matter-of-fact  business  problem. 

When  at  last  she  spoke — long  after  he  had  for- 
gotten what  they  had  been  saying — her  voice 
had  again  a  trace  of  acid,  though  a  faint  one. 
"  Do  you  suppose  your  dust  will  find  that  mine 
has  at  last  achieved  the  beauty  of  maturity  and 
age?" 

Toward  midnight,  when  the  gayeties  of  the  day 
were  over,  Wistar  went  with  his  cousin  to  the 
rooms  in  the  Yard.  A  new  hope  was  dawning. 
The  all-important  decision  did  not  rest  wholly 
with  him.  Onderdonk,  it  seemed,  had  more  than 
a  passing  acquaintance  with  the  younger  Miss 
Sears — she  was  the  one  girl  he  had  invited  to 
Class  Day.  Wistar  might  be  stern  with  himself, 
but  surely  he  need  not  seek  to  control  his  cousin's 
conscience.  If  only  Billy  were  strongly  enough  on 
the  other  side  .  .  .  ?  With  him,  however,  hon- 
esty was  all  but  an  instinct.  He  began  to  urge 
his  cause  conscientiously  upon  his  cousin,  indeed 
with  vigor  and  conviction. 
4  41 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  young  man  listened  for  a  moment,  and 
then  took  from  his  desk  a  post-card  on  the  back 
of  which  was  written  in  his  own  hand:  "Your 

final  mark  in  Economics  90  is  "  Below,  in 

the  blue  pencil  of  the  reader  of  examination  books, 
was  a  large  B.  "  That's  the  course  in  trade  com- 
binations," Billy  explained.  "  I  wrote  a  special 
report  on  the  case  against  the  trusts." 

J9,  Wistar  remembered,  was  not  easy  to  get, 
even  for  plodding  students;  and  he  knew  that 
Billy,  immersed  in  the  enjoyment  of  college  life 
and  his  responsibility  with  the  eleven,  had  got 
his  degree,  as  the  undergraduates  phrase  it,  on  his 
shape. 

"  You — a  grind  !  "  said  Wistar. 

"  I  was  interested  in  that  course.  Sooner  or 
later,  I  felt  sure,  you  would  be  up  against  the 
proposition.  So  I  found  out  all  about  it — read 
about  a  ton  of  newspapers  and  periodicals." 

The  reply,  so  different  from  what  Wistar  had 
— yes!  hoped — brought  him  to  a  sudden  stand- 
still. In  Billy  this  pride  of  knowledge  and  aca- 
demic certainty  of  opinion  was  irresistibly  droll. 
But  the  issue  was  dark  enough.  "  You  know  that 
Mr.  Penrhyn  is  in  with  Mr.  Sears,  and  that  he  is 
a  powerful  man  in  Wall  Street?  " 

"  Still,  if  it  is  up  to  us,  we  can  put  him  out  of 
business?  " 

"  I  feel  sure  that  we  can.  But  you  realize  what 
42 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

the  fight  may  mean  to  your  guest,  Miss  Sears — 
to  her  father?  "  He  spoke  of  their  poverty,  of 
the  old  man's  desperation,  of  Judith's  loyal  sac- 
rifice. 

Billy  listened  patiently.  "  I  know  all  that,"  he 
said.  "  But  do  you  think  the  right  sort  of  a  girl 
would  want  a  fellow  to  do  things  for  her  that 
he  thought  wrong?" 

Wistar  could  have  laughed  outright  in  satiric 
bitterness.  He,  the  mature,  the  serious  man, 
was  learning  wisdom  and  honor  from  this  babe 
and  suckling  in  the  school  of  life.  "  You  have 
become  a  moralist,"  he  said,  "  as  well  as  a 
scholar?  " 

Billy  had  all  the  undergraduate's  horror  of 
being  caught  in  a  pose.  "  I  laugh  at  your  jokes," 
he  said.  Then  regaining  courage,  he  added,  "  You 
haven't  got  cold  feet  yourself,  have  you?"  He 
lighted  a  pipe,  defiantly,  and  sat  in  the  window 
seat. 

"  Do  you  insist  on  fighting  Sears  and  Penrhyn 
to  the  finish — whether  it  is  their  finish  or  ours?  " 

"  That's  it." 

"  And  I  may  go  ahead  at  once  to  organize  the 
opposition?  " 

'  The  sooner  the  quicker." 

'  Then  I  open  up  on  them  to-morrow." 

Filling  one  of  Billy's  many  briars,  Wistar 
lighted  it,  and  with  the  first  puff  laid  a  hand  on 

43 


his  cousin's  shoulder.      "  You're  all  right,   Bill," 
he  said. 

Out  in  the  yard  the  gay  lanterns  one  by  one 
had  flickered  out.  The  college  janitor  was  lift- 
ing them  down  from  among  the  trees  with  a  long 
pole.  Overhead  a  full  moon  was  shining  through 
the  soft  June  night. 

Wistar  puffed  vigorously  at  his  pipe,  somber 
and  abstracted. 

'  That's  a  corking  fine  moon,"  said  Billy,  "  the 
kind  of  moon  I  hoped  we'd  have  for  Class  Day. 
I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  a  finer." 

;'  The  moon  is  according  to  specifications," 
Wistar  answered,  in  a  tone  which  struck  the  young 
man  as  unduly  businesslike. 


44 


w 


CHAPTER    V 

HEN  Wistar  awoke,  as  his  train  was 
crossing  the  Harlem,  a  radical  change 
had  come  over  his  outlook  upon  life. 
The  love  that  had  been  a  dream, 
idealized  in  the  perspective  of  years,  had  become 
present  and  actual.  Now  for  the  first  time  he 
was  a  factor  in  Judith's  happiness,  a  factor  of 
vital  moment.  Out  in  the  darkness,  beyond  the 
threshold  of  his  conscious  self,  there  was  a  faint 
new  star  that  danced  with  hope.  Yet  his  reason 
and  his  sense  of  the  facts  of  life  told  him  that  a 
sorrow  awaited  him  of  a  kind  he  had  never  before 
imagined. 

There  was  one  creature  in  the  world  whom  he 
loved,  and  day  in  and  day  out  he  would  be  obliged 
to  bend  his  energies  to  bring  her  and  those  she 
loved  most  dearly  to  ruin — a  ruin  in  which  mate- 
rial poverty  was  so  much  the  least  of  evils.  When- 
ever the  thought  recurred  to  him  it  filled  him 
with  an  actual,  sickening  anguish.  As  his  train 
glided  in  among  the  hideous  roofs  and  chimneys 
of  Manhattan,  it  seemed  that  the  city  was  at  once 

45 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

the  cause  of  his  sorrow  and  its  embodiment. 
Often  before  his  heart  had  felt  cramped  in  the 
contemplation  of  its  sordid  and  truculent  money- 
greed.  Now  he  could  have  cursed  it  with  a  proph- 
et's vindictive  wrath. 

At  his  office  he  had  scarcely  scanned  the  accu- 
mulation of  mail  when  he  received  a  call  from 
an  auditor — appointed  by  the  projectors  of  the 
association  of  independents  to  determine  and 
report  the  resources  of  each  of  the  firms.  If  it 
was  important  to  the  trust  to  secure  Wistar,  to 
the  anti-trust  it  was  the  vital  consideration.  Some 
of  the  association  were  small  makers  whom  Pen- 
rhyn  had  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  enlist. 
But  not  a  few  of  them  had  voluntarily  held  aloof 
from  him;  and  as  the  auditor  now  made  evident, 
powerful  reinforcements  were  at  hand.  No  less 
than  five  of  the  very  firms  that  had  hitherto  been 
provisionally  pledged  to  Sears  and  Penrhyn  had 
agreed  to  join  the  independents  on  condition  that 
Wistar  also  join  them. 

Wistar  had  never  had  any  real  doubt  as  to  the 
outcome  of  the  fight;  but  now  he  was  manifestly 
master  of  the  situation.  He  at  once  gave  the 
auditor  access  to  his  books.  The  act  was  an 
habitual  and  almost  mechanical  response  to  his 
sense  of  duty.  But  in  his  heart  he  felt  that  he  was 
signing  the  death  warrant  of  all  he  held  most 
dear.  And  so  he  took  up  his  old  life  again — the 

46 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

dingy,  plodding,  intense  life  which  to  Judith  had 
seemed  that  of  a  cave  man. 

A  few  days  later,  several  of  the  evening  papers 
gave  prominence  to  a  rumor  from  Paris — the 
dispatches  called  it  "  persistent " — according  to 
which  the  great  manufacturers  of  the  Continent, 
under  the  lead  of  one  of  them  who  had  steadily 
of  late  increased  his  control  over  the  industry, 
were  forming  a  combination  not  dissimilar  to  the 
one  Sears  and  Penrhyn  were  promoting.  Two 
of  the  papers  printed  editorial  articles  which  took 
a  gloomy  view  of  the  motor  industry  in  America. 
Its  chief  obstacle,  they  said,  was  the  popularity 
of  foreign  cars.  If  the  great  European  makers 
combined  to  reduce  the  cost  of  manufacture,  elim- 
inate rival  advertising,  commissions,  and  other 
wastes  of  competition,  American  firms  would  find 
it  very  much  harder  to  make  head  against  them. 
More  than  ever  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
combine. 

One  of  the  papers  pointed  out  that  the  new  de- 
velopments abroad  would  make  the  opposition 
to  the  American  trust  at  home  doubly  dangerous. 
On  the  following  Sunday  it  printed  a  special  arti- 
cle about  Wistar,  illustrated  with  a  portrait  of  his 
father,  already  marked  by  a  senatorial  beard  as  of 
a  past  generation,  a  photograph  of  himself  as  a 
member  of  the  'varsity  eleven,  and  recent  snap- 
shots of  him  coming  out  of  his  garage  and  enter- 

47 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ing  his  club.  The  article  characterized  him  as  an 
academic  conservative  who  held  the  future  of  the 
American  automobile  in  his  hand. 

Midsummer  is  the  time  of  rumors,  and  only  a 
few  days  later  came  a  report  that  an  attempt  was 
on  foot  to  monopolize  the  output  of  crude  rubber, 
both  in  Africa  and  South  America.  A  trade  jour- 
nal with  an  imagination  remarked  that  the  project 
presented  no  greater  difficulty  than  other  trusts 
had  conquered,  and  that  if  it  could  be  brought  off 
the  command  of  the  manufacture  of  tires  would 
make  the  rubber  monopoly  the  natural  ally  of  a 
monopoly  in  motor  cars. 

To  Wistar  the  idea  was  a  palpable  mare's  nest. 
And  he  had  as  little  fear  of  any  combination  of 
the  makers  of  motor  cars  in  Europe,  for  he  knew 
— none  better — the  difficulties  which,  there  as 
here,  stood  in  the  way  of  such  a  project.  But  he 
saw  very  clearly  that  the  tactical  effect  of  the 
rumors  would  be  to  strengthen  him  in  the  posi- 
tion in  which  fate  had  placed  him.  Beset  by  ene- 
mies at  home  and  abroad,  even  Mr.  Sears  might 
lose  faith  in  the  feasibility  of  his  undertaking. 
Wistar's  impulse  was  to  go  to  the  old  man  frankly 
and  urge  reason  against  his  rashness.  But  this, 
he  saw,  would  only  be  to  weaken  his  own  position, 
and  so  tend  to  defeat  his  ends.  His  wiser  course 
was  to  proceed  with  all  possible  boldness,  counting 
upon  the  ultimate  stress  of  circumstances  to  force 

48 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Sears  and  Penrhyn  to  make  the  advances.  Yet 
as  time  wore  on,  they  gave  no  sign  of  weakening, 
but  instead  pushed  forward  steadily  and  boldly. 
Wistar  fell  prey  to  increasing  anxiety. 

Meantime  a  new  factor  was  added  to  the  per- 
sonal issue.  The  Searses  were  spending  the  sum- 
mer in  town,  and  Billy  was  living  up  to  his  phi- 
losophy of  the  situation  by  seeing  not  a  little  of 
them.  Wistar  was  convinced  that  the  young  man 
had  very  much  more  than  a  passing  interest  in 
May.  Before  pledging  the  firm  beyond  recall,  he 
wished  to  make  sure  that  his  cousin  was  not 
repenting  his  decision,  and  appointed  a  conference 
with  him  in  the  office  of  the  garage. 

July  had  found  Billy  hard  at  work  in  town, 
grimy-handed  and  clad  in  oil-smeared  overalls. 
It  was  his  own  idea  that  he  should  learn  the  busi- 
ness from  the  bottom  up ;  and  Wistar  had  advised 
him  to  begin  in  the  repair  shop  of  the  garage 
rather  than  in  the  factory,  as  a  young  doctor  takes 
a  hospital  position  to  study  all  diseases  in  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men  before  attempting  a  gen- 
eral practice.  It  was  not  an  easy  step  down  he 
had  had  to  take — from  his  self-imposed  researches 
into  the  case  against  the  trusts  to  sorting  a  heap 
of  miscellaneous  parts,  from  first  marshal  of  a 
graduating  class  to  the  helper  of  a  common  ma- 
chinist; but  he  took  it  all  with  a  happy  combina- 
tion of  dignity  and  sense  of  humor. 

49 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

There  was  a  change,  however,  which  he  did 
not  find  so  easy.  The  garage  was  crowded  with 
the  cars  of  business  men  who  used  them  nightly 
to  recuperate  from  the  heat  and  strife  of  the  day, 
and  the  repair  shop  was  working  overtime. 
"  Giant  of  the  gridiron "  though  Billy  was,  ac- 
cording to  the  newspapers,  twelve  hours  of  man- 
ual labor  daily  gave  his  sinews  and  bones  an  ex- 
perience they  had  not  been  trained  to  bear.  As 
the  hand  of  the  clock  in  the  machine  room  ap- 
proached the  hour  of  the  conference,  he  was 
thinking  less  of  the  business  crisis  than  of  the 
chance  it  gave  him  to  knock  off  work  in  the  scorch- 
ing, deafening  loft,  for  half  an  hour  in  the  ease 
of  the  private  office. 

"  Mr.  Wistar  asked  me  to  report  to  him  at 
four,"  Billy  said  to  the  foreman,  raising  his  voice 
to  drown  the  shrieking  of  machinery. 

;'  Tuckered?  "  shouted  that  worthy  with  a  grin. 
He  relished  hugely  the  idea  of  being  boss  to  one 
of  the  firm. 

"Yes,"  said  Billy,  "but 'this  is  on  the  level." 

"  Ye  can  go,"  said  the  foreman. 

As  Billy  passed  out  from  the  odor  of  gasoline, 
and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  huge  "  No  Smoking  " 
signs,  he  took  out  his  neglected  pipe;  and  as  he 
stretched  his  aching  frame  in  a  leather  easy  chair 
he  blew  out  the  first  delicious  puff.  The  awn- 
ings were  down,  and  the  windows  closed  to  keep 

50 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

out  the  hot  afternoon  air  of  midsummer.  The 
room  was  dark  except  for  an  occasional  shaft  of 
sunlight  that  darted  through  the  chinks  about  the 
awnings;  and  by  contrast  with  the  machine  room, 
it  was  deliciously  cool.  The  blue-gray  clouds  of 
smoke,  as  they  spread  along  the  planes  of  sun- 
light, were  slabs  of  liquid  marble,  and  Billy 
watched  them  with  a  sense  of  positive  luxury. 
Wistar  had  not  yet  come,  but  he  was  far  from 
repining. 

A  report  like  a  pistol  shot  fell  upon  Billy's  ear 
from  down  the  block,  and  then  another  and  an- 
other. He  started,  but  lay  back  in  his  chair  with 
a  smile.  An  ill-adjusted  motor  was  pounding 
toward  him,  unburned  gasoline  from  which  was 
blowing  up  at  intervals  in  the  muffler.  For  a 
moment  the  fusillade  ceased,  and  then  there 
was  a  nearer  report  like  that  of  a  cannon,  followed 
by  a  feminine  cry  of  alarm.  Billy  jumped  to 
his  feet,  but  the  sudden  pain  in  his  relaxing 
muscles  checked  him.  Nobody  who  had  been 
really  hurt,  he  reflected,  could  make  a  noise  like 
that. 

"  Hello,  my  man!  "  some  one  called  out,  half 
good-naturedly  and  half  in  patronage.  "  Smok- 
ing in  the  private  office?  That  means  the  boss 
isn't  here.  When'll  he  be  in?  " 

"Oh,  Penrhyn!"  Billy  answered,  without, 
however,  stirring  from  his  chair.  "  Due  now." 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  Onderdonk !  "  said  Penrhyn,  eying  the  over- 
alls. "  I  didn't  know  you  for  the  glad  rags." 
His  manner  became  suddenly  jovial,  and  he  of- 
fered to  shake  hands;  but  Billy  withheld  his  soiled 
palm.  With  a  friendly  air  of  burlesque  Penrhyn 
took  him  by  the  sleeve  and  shook  his  arm. 

There  was  a  breeziness  in  the  man's  manner 
and  a  frankness  in  his  big  laugh  to  which  most 
men  responded  instinctively.  "  Something  up  with 
that  motor  combination?"  Billy  asked. 

"  You  want  to  talk  about  it?  " 

"  No.    Thought  you  did." 

"  We  gave  you  a  chance  to  come  in  on  the 
ground  floor.  What  more  do  you  want?  What 
I'm  after  is  a  mechanic.  My  bubble  has  bust." 

Billy  laughed,  concealing  his  disappointment. 
'  That  your  machine?  One  of  your  French 
scorchers?  The  Yellow  Peril,  or  The  Purple  As- 
sassin? " 

"  Neither,"  answered  Penrhyn.  "  It's  Irving- 
dale  Smith's  new  model.  Your  friend  Miss  Sears 
calls  it  the  Petted  Polecat.  We  had  just  started 
for  a  little  burst  of  speed  up  the  Boulevard,  when 
suddenly  we  stopped — with  a  burst  of  something 
else.  Sounded  like  the  gasoline  tank." 

Billy  grinned.  Irvingdale  Smith  was  one  of 
the  manufacturers,  a  rival  of  Wistar's,  on  whose 
plant  the  promoters  held  an  option.  Proceeding 
on  the  theory  that  the  automobile  of  the  future 

52 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

would  be  within  the  means  of  the  man  in  the 
street,  he  had  put  a  gaudy,  four-cylinder  affair  on 
the  market  for  eight  hundred  dollars.  If  he  had 
counted  on  impressing  Wistar,  he  was  disap- 
pointed. Never  had  a  car  better  answered  to 
Simeon  Ford's  description  of  a  Louis  Quinze  body 
with  a  tomato-cans  engine. 

"Your  T.  C.  model?"  Billy  suggested. 

Penrhyn  caught  the  allusion.  "  Name  it  and 
you  can  have  it,"  he  laughed,  with  inexpugnable 
joviality.  "  But  somehow  or  other,  we've  got  to 
get  on.  I've  asked  Miss  Sears  and  her  father  to 
dine  at  Bardine's.  And  Bardine,  like  Sheridan, 
is  twenty  miles  away." 

"Which  Miss  Sears?"  Billy  asked,  striding 
toward  the  door,  forgetful  now  of  his  stiffening 
muscles. 

Penrhyn  laid  hold  of  the  straps  of  his  overalls. 
"  I'll  tell  you,"  he  said,  "  when  you've  put  a- man 
on  the  job!  " 

Billy  bethought  himself,  and  pressed  a  bell. 
There  was  a  man  who  might  serve  the  turn — one 
Andrews,  an  expert  machinist,  who  had  taken  to 
drink  and  had  been  reduced  to  the  position  of 
man-of-all-jobs. 

Penrhyn's  alert  and  gray-green  eyes  took  An- 
drews in  at  a  glance — a  pallid  wastrel,  whose  red 
side  whiskers  and  scraggy  imperial  only  empha- 
sized the  twitching,  hunted  look  of  a  degenerate 

53 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

face,  and  whose  eye  was  already  beginning  to 
swim  with  the  day's  potations. 

"  Both  of  the  Misses  Sears  are  out  here,"  Pen- 
rhyn  said  to  Billy  as  they  went  into  the  street. 

May  met  Billy  with  a  cordiality  that  ended  in 
blackening  her  glove  upon  his  palm  before  either 
of  them  was  aware  of  it.  When  he  blundered  an 
apology,  she  laughed,  and  made  a  pretext  of  her 
soiled  fingers  to  lend  a  hand  now  and  again  in 
the  work  of  putting  in  a  new  muffler.  She  had 
spent  much  time  with  Billy  in  his  car,  and  knew 
more  about  a  motor  than  either  of  the  men  whose 
aim  it  was  to  gain  control  of  all  motors. 

The  garage  was  crowded  with  automobiles  and 
mechanicians,  so  they  had  to  work  by  the  curb  in 
the  shadow  of  the  buildings,  while  a  knot  of  idlers 
gathered  about,  who  divided  their  time  between 
admiring  the  gaudy  motor  car  and  advising  the 
motorists  to  get  a  horse. 


54 


A 


CHAPTER    VI 

S  Wistar's  purring  motor  glided  up  the 
gangway  into  the  garage,  he  passed 
Judith  and  Penrhyn,  standing  at  the 
door.  The  glare  of  the  sun,  through 
an  atmosphere  that  vibrated  with  the  heat  of  a 
long  day,  had  reduced  the  asphalt  to  rubber;  and 
the  passers-by  in  the  street  walked  as  if  their  feet 
were  weighted  with  ball  and  chain;  but  Judith 
looked  breezy  and  fresh,  as  some  women  have 
the  genius  of  doing,  even  in  midsummer  and 
in  the  city.  The  sight  of  her  there  on  his  own 
threshold  awakened  a  new  melody  in  his  heart. 
And  then  came  an  afterthought  more  deeply 
stirring  than  the  first.  Was  it  possible  that  the 
presence  of  the  party  would  lead  to  overtures  of 
peace? 

When  he  alighted  this  hope  was  dispelled. 
Penrhyn  was  eagerly  discussing  the  chance  of 
getting  away,  and  was  clearly  less  interested  in 
Wistar  than  in  Andrews  and  the  muffler.  Judith, 
however,  mingled  with  the  more  selfish  considera- 
tion a  sympathetic  curiosity  as  to  the  machinist. 

55 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

This  enabled  Wistar  to  lead  up  to  the  business 
issue  as  if  by  chance.  Andrews,  he  explained,  was 
a  chronically  lame  duck,  who  had  disappointed 
every  hope  of  reformation.  He  had  given  him 
work  in  the  factory,  but  had  long  suspected  him 
of  copying  the  patterns  of  improvements  he  was 
making  and  selling  them  to  a  rival  manufacturer 
in  the  West,  so  that  every  time  he  brought  out  a 
new  model  this  rival  was  in  the  field  with  one 
like  it. 

"You  mean  Irvingdale  Smith?"  Penrhyn  in- 
terjected. 

"  I  don't  accuse  anyone,"  Wistar  said. 

But  the  case  was  common  knowledge.  Smith 
was,  in  fact,  the  leader  in  the  recent  development 
of  unwholesome  competition — theft,  price-cutting 
and  flimsy  workmanship — which  constituted  the 
most  valid  argument  for  consolidation. 

Wistar  went  on  with  his  story.  Finally  he  had 
caught  Andrews  in  the  draughting  room,  too  much 
interested  in  the  plans  of  one  of  his  inventions. 
Then  he  had  put  him  in  the  garage,  where  there 
was  less  temptation,  and  the  man  had  promptly 
taken  to  drink. 

"  And  by  the  way,"  Wistar  concluded,  "  Smith 
is  getting  cold  feet  about  that  combination  of 
yours.  He's  in  town,  and  making  overtures  to 
join  us  fellows." 

''  We  have  an  option  on  his  plant,"  Penrhyn  ob- 

56 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

served  quite  casually.  "  But  if  you  want  him  you 
can  have  him." 

"Not  I!     I've  had  enough  of  him!  " 

They  were  all  silent,  and  again  Wistar  inwardly 
lamented  the  failure  of  his  hope. 

Judith  broke  the  silence  to  revert  to  Andrews. 

"A  universal  genius!"  Wistar  said.  ;' When 
he's  sober  he's  anything  from  a  bookkeeper  to  a 
machinist.  When  he's  drunk  he  goes  in  for  safe- 
blowing  and  religion." 

Penrhyn  was  a  bit  of  a  mimic,  and  as  he  spoke 
he  gave  a  spirited  parody  of  the  warring  phases 
of  Andrews's  character.  "  Safe-blowing!  "  he  ex- 
claimed, stroking  his  chin.  "  Hence  the  dashing 
red  imperial!  Religion!  Hence  the  ministerial 
sideburns !  " 

"Fire  and  brimstone,"  laughed  Wistar;  "if 
you  call  that  religion." 

A  satirical  smile  flashed  across  Penrhyn's  face. 
"  Isn't  that  religion  enough  for  sideburns?" 

"  How  does  such  a  man  get  religion?  "  Judith 
asked,  incredulous. 

"  He  got  his  in  Sing  Sing.  When  he  was  re- 
leased he  went  to  preaching  eternal  damnation  in 
Madison  Square.  Unfortunately,  he  took  so 
much  money  Sundays  that  he  was  drunk  most  of 
the  week.  Yet  he  seemed  to  want  to  pull  to- 
gether, so  I  gave  him  a  chance." 

"  I  don't  see  how  such  a  man  can  be  sincere," 
5  57 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

said  Judith,  whose  knowledge  of  the  depths  of 
human  impulse  was  ill  proportioned  to  her  sym- 
pathies. 

"  Nowadays,"  Wistar  suggested,  "  nobody  is 
insincere — only  politely  cynical." 

"  That's  it !  "  laughed  Penrhyn,  "  politely  cyn- 
ical— to  preach  hell  in  Madison  Square,  and  raise 
it  in  the  Tenderloin !  " 

Judith's  eyes  danced  into  Penrhyn's  with  appre- 
ciative laughter;  but  in  a  moment  she  turned  them, 
again  sympathetic,  upon  Wistar.  "  Does  he  really 
try?  "  she  asked. 

'*  They  are  born  degenerates,"  said  Penrhyn, 
"  and  they  will  die  degenerates.  As  one  of  them 
once  remarked,  they  can  resist  anything — except 
temptation!  " 

Penrhyn's  assurance  of  virtue  jarred  upon  Wis- 
tar. "  I  imagine,"  he  said,  "  that  many  of  us 
would  prove  weaker  than  we  think  if  we  had  the 
temptations  of  such  men." 

The  brief  colloquy,  while  it  confirmed  his  dis- 
like of  Penrhyn,  gave  him  his  first  impression  of 
the  charm  he  might  have  for  such  a  girl  as  Ju- 
dith. Upon  her  inborn  refinement  and  inbred 
reserve  his  alert,  decisive  mentality,  fresh  animal 
spirits  and  gift  of  hearty  laughter  made  an  im- 
pression of  almost  prismatic  brilliance. 

The  thought  recalled  him  to  the  issue  that  lay 
nearest  his  heart.  Why  should  he  not  make  use 

58 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

of  the  present  occasion  to  speak  of  things  as  they 
were  to  Judith?  As  the  work  on  the  muffler 
dragged  on,  he  suggested  that  she  come  in  and  sit 
down  in  the  office.  Penrhyn  started  to  follow; 
but  Wistar  pointed  out  that  he  had  better  keep 
an  eye  on  Andrews,  and  his  tone  had  a  touch  of 
authority  that  made  Penrhyn  obey,  though  not 
without  a  mute  demurrer. 


59 


w 


CHAPTER   VII 

ISTAR  seated  Judith   in  the  big  chair, 
and,  gathering  the  electric  fans,  turned 
them  so  that  they  wafted  convergent 
breezes  on  her. 
She  relaxed   gratefully,   but  protested  that  he 
should   have   some   of   the    fans   for   himself,   he 
looked  so  tired  and  hot. 

"  That  is  just  why  I'm  turning  them  all  on  you. 
You  are  so  fresh  and  cool  that  by  and  by  the 
whole  place  will  be  swept  by  ocean  breezes." 
She  nodded  a  gracious  "  Thank  you." 
"  Besides,"  he  added,  "  I'm  going  to  tell  you 
something  that — I  hope — will  not  make  you  more 
comfortable."  Wistar  outlined  the  situation 
briefly  but  forcibly.  "  The  money  your  father  is 
using  is  yours,"  he  concluded.  "  I  tell  you  this 
so  that  you  may,  if  you  will,  bend  your  influence  to 
make  him  reconsider  this  project  in  time." 

She  shook  her  head.     "  Father  is  as  confident 
on  his  side  as  you  are  on  yours." 

"  But  not  with  the  same  reason — I  think  I  can 
convince  you." 

60 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  The  question  is  whether  I  could  convince 
him!  Mother  died,  you  know,  when  May  was 
born,  and  all  his  lonely  life  since  he  has  been 
wrapped  up  in  his  dreams  of  power.  I  am  all 
he  has' to  take  her  place.  Don't  you  see?  I  have 
to  stand  by  him.  And  this  particular  venture — 
it's  his  ewe  lamb !  " 

"  A  ewe  lamb  on  Wall  Street?  Just  what  will 
happen  to  you — if  it  is  sheared?" 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "  For  myself — 
what  do  girls  do  when  they  are  poor?  " 

"  Some  get  work,  and  some  get  married." 

'  You  see  how  easy  it  is !  It  sounds  like  a 
nursery  rhyme !  It's  for  father  I'm  worried.  All 
his  life — and  all  his  fortune! — he  has  spent  try- 
ing to  show  obstinate  people  how  to  make 
money."  She  broke  off  and  looked  up  at  him 
with  a  little  grimace.  "  And  you  never  will  see 
it!" 

Wistar  shook  his  head.  "  There's  one  thing 
more  obstinate  than  people — facts!  Here  is  a 
fact  that  is  likely  to  prove  very  obstinate !  "  He 
took  from  his  pocket  a  package  of  papers — mat- 
ters about  which  he  had  come  to  consult  Billy. 
One  set  of  papers,  he  explained,  related  to  a  new 
device  for  transmitting  the  power  to  the  axles,  an 
invention  which,  if  successful,  would  be  revolu- 
tionary. The  gasoline  motor  had  been  brought 
to  a  truly  marvelous  perfection,  and  there  was  no 

61 


THE     CAVE     M  A  N 

patent  on  it,  anyway;  but  present  methods  of  gear 
transmission  were  crude,  almost  incredibly  crude, 
involving  a  great  waste  of  power,  trouble  in  shift- 
ing speeds,  and  a  brutal  strain  on  a  delicately  ad- 
justed mechanism.  A  patentable  device  that  was 
economical  of  power  and  easily  and  accurately 
controlled  would  be,  in  effect,  a  monopoly  far 
more  perfect  than  any  trade  consolidation  could 
secure.  If  controlled  by  anyone  outside  the  pro- 
posed trust,  it  would  be  an  almost  fatal  obstacle 
to  it. 

He  offered  to  explain  the  records  of  his  tests 
of  the  gear. 

"  I'm  afraid  I  shouldn't  understand." 

"  Nor  your  father,  nor  Mr.  Penrhyn,"  he  said. 
"  But  before  you  commit  yourself  finally  to  the 
promotion,  I  beg  you  to  send  an  expert  to  inquire 
into  this  gear  of  Minot's." 

"  Minot?"  she  asked  with  deepened  interest — 
"Mr.  Franklin  Minot?  He  was  father's  first 
partner  in  promoting,  more  than  twenty  years 
ago."  Then  she  added  with  a  sad  little  shake  of 
her  head:  "  Both  of  them  have  seen  so  many  fail- 
ures since  1  " 

Wistar    looked    at    her    with    keen    curiosity. 

'  You  know  him  ?    He  has  all  the  earmarks  of  the 

traditional    genius.     I've   seen    dozens    like    him. 

But  he's  the  only  one  who  is  the  real  thing.    Why 

has  he  failed?" 

62 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  Father  is  a  bit  of  a  genius  too,"  she  objected, 
with  a  moue  of  amiable  protest.  Then  she  said 
sadly:  "  Failures,  I  imagine,  are  very  much  alike; 
it  is  only  success  that  brings  out  a  man's  distinc- 
tion. They  are  both  terribly  set  in  their  ways! 
Mr.  Minot  has  thrown  away  chance  after  chance. 
He  always  demands  practical  control  of  his  in- 
ventions, and  people  who  have  money  won't  listen 
to  that." 

Wistar  smiled.  The  hard  fate  of  inventors, 
of  which  the  public  hears  so  much,  is  generally 
the  result  of  underestimating  the  value  of  efficient 
business  sense,  and  exaggerating  the  value  of 
an  idea.  "  He  still  insists  on  it.  He  can't  get 
together  enough  money  to  build  and  test  his  own 
model — not  even  to  get  out  a  patent,  a  hundred 
dollars !  Before  he  would  place  the  matter  in  my 
hands  he  made  me  promise  to  guard  his  secret  as 
my  own.  But  he  asks  me  to  form  a  company  to 
back  him,  and  then  give  him  the  control  of  the 
whole  concern!  Even  at  that,  he  says,  I  shall 
make  more  than  I  have  a  right  to.  Yet  every  few 
days  he  drops  in  to  see  if  there's  any  chance — he 
seems  to  know  by  instinct  when  I'm  here — and 
he  looks  so  starved  it's  all  I  can  do  to  keep  from 
offering  him  the  price  of  a  dinner." 

Minot  had  married  a  young  girl,  Judith  re- 
lated— a  friend  of  her  mother's,  who  had  been 
bred  to  every  luxury.  Mrs.  Sears  had  kept  track 

63 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

of  them  until  she  died,  and  then  Judith,  mere  girl 
though  she  was,  had  taken  them  as  a  sort  of  legacy 
in  charity.  She  had  seen  them  go  down  and 
down,  from  their  own  world  to  a  flat  in  Harlem, 
and  then  to  a  boarding  house  on  the  fringe  of 
respectability.  At  present  they  were  living  in 
rooms  far  over  on  the  East  Side,  and  Mrs.  Minot 
was  taking  in  sewing  to  keep  their  child  from  ac- 
tual hunger. 

"  And  now,  after  all,"  Judith  pleaded,  "  if 
they  can  be  made  rich  again,  brought  back  to 
health  and  comfort,  to  the  life  they  were  born 
to,  you  won't  let  his  obstinacy  keep  you  from  help- 
ing him?  " 

Wistar  was  quick  to  see  an  advantage.  He 
looked  steadily  into  her  troubled  eyes. 

"  Even  if  his  gear  puts  into  my  hands  a  fatal 
weapon  against  your  father?  " 

In  her  interest  in  her  old  friends  Judith  had 
forgotten  her  own  anxiety.  Now,  when  it  was 
recalled  to  her  thus  abruptly,  her  face  clouded. 
"  If  his  success  stands  in  the  way  of  father's," 
she  asked,  almost  pathetically  sincere,  "  would 
you  think  me  wrong  if  I  grudged  it  to  him?  " 

Wistar's  heart  was  no  less  torn  than  hers,  and 
the  fact  brought  all  his  tenderness  to  the  surface. 
He  turned  away  from  her  in  an  effort  of  self- 
control. 

As  he  did  so  the  door  opened  and  Minot  came 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

in.  "  I  just  happened  by,"  he  said,  as  he  had  so 
often  said  before.  "  And  I  thought  I'd  drop  in, 
to  see  if  there  was  any  news." 

His  grizzled  hair  and  famished  face  struck  on 
Wistar's  sympathies  as  they  had  never  done;  and 
his  clothes,  worn  to  a  thread,  but  scrupulously 
brushed,  even  pressed,  spoke  eloquently  of  the 
traditions  of  the  gentleman.  Again  Wistar  saw 
an  advantage,  and  leaving  Judith  in  her  big  chair 
by  the  window,  went  to  the  door  and  took  Minot's 
hand.  "  There  is  news,"  he  said,  "  and  good 
news." 

A  tremor  passed  through  Minot's  wasted 
frame,  but  his  eyes  glowed.  "  You  believe  in  it!  " 

"  I'm  ready  to  form  a  company  for  you.  If 
the  thing  pans  out  as  I  expect,  I  shall  want  your 
concern  to  work  in  combination  with  ours  here." 
It  was  not  necessary  to  explain  the  trust  situation, 
for  by  this  time  the  papers  were  full  of  it. 

Minot  leaned  against  Wistar's  desk,  and  a 
shadow  passed  across  his  wan  face.  '  You're  not 
making  a  fool  of  me !  "  he  said,  almost  fiercely. 

"  The  fellow  who  invented  this,"  Wistar  re- 
assured him — "  it  would  take  a  sharper  man  than 
I  to  make  a  fool  of  him."  He  put  his  hand  on 
the  shrunken  shoulder. 

Minot  looked  up  quickly  with  a  touch  of  long- 
accustomed  suspicion.  "  But  you  won't  give  me 
what  I  demand — the  control  of  the  company !  If 

65 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

you  meant  to — you  would  be  too  shrewd  to  say 
all  this!" 

"  What  you  ask,"  said  Wistar,  "  is  all  against 

the  general  practice.     But  Mr.  Onderdonk  and  I 

—when  we've  got  a  good  thing,  and  a  good  man, 

we  deal  above  board.     And  in  this  case  we  can't 

afford  not  to !  " 

Minot  sank  into  the  chair  and  buried  his  face 
in  his  hands.  "  It  is  I  who  am  making  a  fool  of 
myself !  I  hope  you'll  forgive  my  suspicion.  The 
fact  is,  I'm  not  quite  myself  to-day.  My  wife  is 
ill,  and  I've  been  so — so  worried  that  I — forgot 
— to  get  luncheon." 

Wistar  understood  what  Minot  only  half  ex- 
pressed. 

"  In  that  case,"  he  said,  "  we'll  wait  till  to-mor- 
row to  talk  particulars.  But  if  you  don't  mind 
I'll  write  you  a  check,  just  to  show  that  we  mean 
business.  By  the  way,  you  know  Miss  Sears,  don't 
you?" 

Minot,  eager  and  intent,  had  not  noticed  her 
in  the  darkened  room.  Now  he  rose  and  went 
to  her  with  a  touch  of  old-fashioned  courtesy. 
"  Bless  you,  Judith!  "  he  said.  "  You  will  be  as 
glad  as  anybody  to  hear  of  our  good  fortune." 

When  he  took  the  check  from  Wistar  and 
glanced  at  it,  he  smiled,  and  passed  his  hand 
across  his  forehead.  The  sum  ran  into  five  figures. 
"  I  feel  as  if  I  were  dreaming,"  he  said.  "  For 

66 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

twenty  years  I've  dreamed  of  just  such  a  time  as 
this!  "  In  an  instant  his  happiness  vanished.  He 
hesitated,  and  then  said  quite  frankly:  "  For  to- 
night could  you  give  me  something  in  currency? 
It's  too  late  to  deposit  this;  and  you  know — I  told 
you — my  wife " 

Wistar  took  up  the  telephone  from  his  desk 
and  spoke  to  the  cashier. 

When  Minot  went  out,  Judith  came  to  Wistar 
and  laid  a  hand  lightly  upon  his  shoulder.  "  It 
is  good  of  you !  Think  of  them — all  of  them — 
health,  happiness,  after  a  living  death  of  twenty 
years !  " 

Pity  is  said  to  be  a  very  poor  relation  of  love; 
but  the  emotion  of  that  moment  and  the  affection- 
ate touch  of  her  hand  stirred  a  passion  before 
which  Wistar  trembled.  He  took  the  hand  from 
his  shoulder.  "  You  mustn't  be  that  way  with 
me!  I  can't  stand  it!  "  But  he  held  the  soft, 
firm  fingers  until  she  withdrew  them. 

On  his  way  out  of  the  garage  Minot  stopped 
in  again  at  the  office.  "  You  remember,  it  isn't 
patented?"  he  said.  "You  are  sure  no  one  has 
been  able  to  take  the  idea  and  get  in  ahead  of 
us?" 

"  Quite  sure,"  said  Wistar.  "  But  I  advise  you 
to  get  out  your  papers  at  once." 

u  No  danger  now !  "  Minot  laughed.  Already 
he  seemed  to  have  grown  young  and  strong. 

67 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

When  he  had  gone  Judith  sank  back  in  her 
chair.  "If  there  must  be  sorrow,"  she  said, 
"  how  merciful  to  have  done  with  it — before  you 
are  old!" 

The  words  recalled  Wistar  to  the  affair  that 
concerned  them  more  nearly.  But  there  was  no 
time  for  sympathy  now.  He  took  another  paper 
from  the  package — a  list  of  the  manufacturers 
who  were  pledged  to  stand  with  him,  with  the 
auditor's  statement  of  the  resources  of  each  and 
the  total  sales  of  the  previous  year.  The  coali- 
tion represented  a  capital  of  over  forty  millions, 
and  an  annual  sale  of  almost  fifteen  thousand 
cars.  "  I  doubt  if  your  people  can  show  greater 
strength,"  Wistar  said.  '  There  is  every  chance 
that  we  shall  stand  against  you.  If  we  do — you 
realize  what  it  will  mean !  " 

"  What  will  it  mean?  "  Judith  asked,  half  dis- 
mayed and  half  defiant. 

"  That  we  shall  have  to  bring  you  in  your 
youth,  and  your  father  in  his  age,  to  what  Minot 
has  suffered  these  twenty  years!  You  know  what 
that  will  cost  us — Minot  and  Billy  and  me." 

'You  would  do  that?"  she  asked.  Close  be- 
neath her  ease  and  gayety,  which  was  that  of  the 
world  she  was  born  to — beneath  even  her  super- 
ficial friendliness  for  Wistar — there  lay  always 
an  instinctive  antagonism,  a  primordial  resent- 
ment against  this  man.  Now  it  rose  to  the  sur- 

68 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

face  in  an  accent  almost  of  scorn.  "  You  could 
do  that!  "  she  exclaimed. 

Wistar  hesitated  a  moment.  "  I  can,"  he  said, 
"if  I  must!" 

Judith  laughed,  but  not  with  her  natural  gayety. 
"  You  have  the  conservatism  of  the  cave  man," 
she  said,  "  and  also  the  cave  man's  club!  " 

She  rose  as  she  spoke,  and  together  they  set 
out  to  rejoin  her  party;  but  on  the  gangway  they 
were  met  by  Penrhyn  and  Mr.  Sears. 


69 


I 


CHAPTER    VIII 

F  Penrhyn  had  feltWistar's  gentle  snub- 
bing, there  was  no  trace  of  it  in  his 
manner.  "  Sorry  to  intrude,"  he  said; 
"  but  your  man  Andrews  has  dis- 
charged us  for  inefficiency.  Says  what  we  don't 
know  about  automobiles  would  float  a  trust  on 
Wall  Street.  Rather  shrewd,  that!  We  mean 
it  shall." 

"  It  is,  in  fact,  about  business  that  we  want  to 
speak  to  you,"  said  Mr.  Sears.  "  Now,  when  we 
are  oh  the  verge  of  harsh  and  destructive  meas- 
ures, chance  has  thrown  us  together.  May  we 
not  use  the  opportunity  for  an  informal  talk?" 

The  words  lifted  a  weight  from  Wistar's  heart. 
Here,  at  last,  was  the  evidence  he  had  been  wait- 
ing for  that  his  enemies  were  weakening.  He  led 
them  back  into  the  office. 

His  instinct  was  for  the  jugular  vein.  Penrhyn 
represented  the  money  power  of  the  promoters,  and 
he  turned  to  him  with  resolution. 

But  the  young  man  spoke  before  him.  "  When 
you  refused  to  come  in  with  us,"  he  said,  with  an 
air  of  friendliness  which  his  words  belied,  "  you 

70 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

said — I  remember  the  phrase  exactly — that  you 
were  '  determined  to  remain  your  own  master.' 
Master  of  what,  may  I  ask?  We  offer  you  power 
which  is  literally  beyond  the  imagination  to  con- 
ceive. The  wealth  of  Monte  Cristo !  The  other 
day  I  reckoned  it  up.  I  myself,  and  a  score  of 
others,  have  more  money.  Among  the  great  men 
of  Wall  Street — and  you  might,  if  you  chose,  be- 
come one  of  them — Monte  Cristo  would  not  be 
one-two-six." 

Judith  may  have  felt  that  Penrhyn's  appeal  was 
not  likely  to  impress  Wistar.  "  Poor  Monte 
Cristo !  "  she  said.  "  Think  of  him.  A  sort  of 
Three-Card  Monte !  " 

"  Just  about  that !  In  this  age  the  supreme 
power  is  industrial.  Make  our  concern  what  it 
should  be,  and  the  men  who  control  it  will  be 
factors  in  world  politics !  " 

Wistar  knew  that  Penrhyn  was  a  rising  power 
in  the  Street,  but  he  had  had  no  idea  that  his  for- 
tune was  so  much  above  the  common  lot.  He 
was  less  impressed,  however,  than  he  would  have 
been  if  his  own  resources  were  not  also  vastly 
beyond  the  general  estimate  of  them.  Far  from 
being  disconcerted,  he  fell  into  Judith's  vein.  "  I 
can  already  see  you,"  he  said,  "  shooting  hand- 
raised  pheasant  at  Sandringham  with  the  good 
King  Edward,  and  dining  imperially  on  the  proud 
ship  Hohenzollern" 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  young  financier  turned  upon  him  with  a 
quick  touch  of  rancor.  "  What  are  your  ambi- 
tions?" 

"  Very  humble,  I'm  afraid — to  be  independent, 
and  to  make  good  machines.  I  am  a  manufac- 
turer." 

"  But  the  combination  could  make  more  ma- 
chines," Penrhyn  shot  back  at  him,  "  and  sell 
them  at  a  lower  price !  What  would  you  be  then  ? 
No  longer  James  Wistar,  leader  of  a  great  industry, 
but  one  of  the  unfit  who  has  fallen  in  the  strife  of 
progress !  Whether  we  wished  it  or  not,  in  the  end 
we  should  have  to  make  a  meal  of  you !  " 

"  Then  the  question  reduces  itself  to  this," 
Wistar  answered  very  quietly,  "  which  dog  shall 
eat  dog." 

"  The  only  way  to  find  out  is  to  try." 

"  There  is,  I  hope,  another  way."  Wistar  took 
up  from  his  desk  the  papers  relating  to  Minot's 
gear  and  briefly  explained  the  device. 

Penrhyn  became  suddenly  interested.  "  How 
do  you  know  it  will  work?  " 

Wistar  turned  to  the  records  of  his  own  tests 
in  the  factory,  explaining  that  they  were  far  be- 
yond anything  he  had  dreamed  of  as  possible. 

Penrhyn  reached  for  the  papers  and  began  to 
glance  through  them. 

Wistar  took  them  from  him  quietly  but  firmly. 

"  I  have  given  my  word,"  he  said,  "  that  these 
72 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

shall  not  pass  my  hand.  If  there  is  anything  you 
want  to  know  I  will  tell  you." 

"Not  patented?"  Penrhyn  inquired.  "Is  the 
idea  patentable?  " 

Wistar  did  not  answer. 

"  I  thought  you  meant  me  to  see  it,"  Penrhyn 
protested.  "  I  only  want  to  know  if  it  will  work." 

"I  have  gone  into  it — gone  in  rather  deeply! 
The  time  is  coming,  and  coming  soon,  when  no  car 
will  be  a  first-class  car  without  the  Minot  gear. 
And  we  control  it!  You  realize,  I  hope,  that  if  it 
came  to  a  fight  between  us,  a  thing  like  that  would 
turn  the  scales." 

"  Oh,  I  see !  "  laughed  Penrhyn.  "  Just  a  lit- 
tle bluff  to  scare  us  off,  eh?  " 

"  Stanley !  "  Judith  cried.  "  Believe  me — I 
know!  Mr.  Wistar  is  only  telling  us  the  truth!  " 

"  I  have  a  special  reason  for  not  wanting  to 
fight  you,"  Wistar  said. 

"  There  are  many  good  reasons,"  Penrhyn 
answered. 

Wistar  flushed,  and  his  voice  rose.  "  The 
best!  "  he  said.  "  But  not  fear!  "  In  a  moment 
he  controlled  himself.  "  They  are  private  rea- 
sons. You  underestimate  the  fight  you  are  run- 
ning into!  Why  not  arbitrate  the  matter — let 
the  facts  arbitrate  for  us?  " 

Alluding  to  their  recent  conversation  about  Irv- 
ingdale  Smith,  he  explained  that  a  number  of 
6  73 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

prominent  firms  were  shifting  allegiance  to  the 
anti-syndicate.  He  took  up  the  list  of  allies  from 
the  desk.  "  The  matter  has  been  placed  in  my 
hands,  and  nothing  would  please  us  all  more  than 
to  adjust  it  without  conflict.  I  will  show  you  this 
list  if  you  will  show  us  similarly  attested  data. 
If  it  appears  that  you  have  the  upper  hand,  we 
will  give  in.  If  it  appears  that  we  have,  you  will 
know  better  than  to  fight  us.  And  I  know  that 
we  have  the  upper  hand." 

He  turned  away  as  he  spoke,  and  saw  Andrews 
standing  by  the  door,  as  if  waiting  to  speak. 

"  If  I  am  to  put  in  that  muffler,"  said  Andrews, 
"  I  need  a  helper.  Mr.  Onderdonk  and  the  lady 
got  tired." 

Wistar  nodded,  and  the  man  went  out,  some- 
what reluctantly,  as  it  seemed. 

When  Wistar  turned  again  to  Sears  and  Pen- 
rhyn  he  saw  that  they  had  been  in  hasty  argument. 
To  his  surprise,  Penrhyn  had  the  attitude  of  per- 
suasion. 

"  I  await  your  answer,"  said  Wistar. 

"  My  dear  sir,"  Sears  protested.  "  There  are 
cases  in  which,  in  spite  of  the  best  intentions,  ar- 
bitration is  not  possible.  No  man  can  judge  be- 
tween us — on  paper!  Even  if  your  side  appeared 
stronger,  believing  in  our  cause  as  we  do,  we 
should  fight  for  it — though  that  you  would  appear 
stronger  I  don't  for  a  moment  believe." 

74 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  Why  not  put  it  to  the  test,  then?  " 

"  Because  what  we  want  is  not  your  unwilling 
acquiescence,  but  your  positive  and  practical  aid. 
We  know  that  you  need  us,  but  we  are  equally 
certain  that  we  need  you — your  experience,  your 
skill,  the  excellence  of  your  car,  your  known  in- 
tegrity." 

"  But  since  I  refuse  that,  the  issue  is  between 
your  strength  and  mine." 

"  What  I  mean,"  said  Sears,  again  expand- 
ing in  imagination,  "  is  that  this  idea  of  ours,  the 
idea  of  industrial  consolidation,  is  bigger  than  you 
or  I — bigger  than  all  of  us  together.  Our  strength 
lies  not  in  power  of  the  kind  you  speak  of,  but  in  the 
fact  that  we  are  fighting  on  the  side  of  progress." 
'You  refuse  my  proposition?" 

Penrhyn  showed  hesitation,  and  Wistar  drew 
a  moment's  hope  from  the  fact;  but  Sears  was 
resolute.  "  We  do,"  he  said  decisively.  Pen- 
rhyn nodded  acquiescence. 

The  conference  of  which  Wistar  had  hoped  so 
much  was  over.  "  You  have  made  the  fight,"  he 
said  grimly.  "  But  I  promise  you  I  will  make  the 
fighting." 

"  Don't  dismiss  the  matter  so,"  Mr.  Sears 
pleaded. 

"  How  else  can  we  dismiss  it?  " 
'There  is  so  much  to  say!     It's  too  late  for 
our  ride  now.     Can't  you  dine  with  us?" 

75 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  My  dear  sir,"  Wistar  protested,  "  the  result 
could  only  be  what  it  always  has  been!  " 

"  At  least  you  might  come,"  urged  Judith. 
"  Perhaps,  after  all,  if  we  eat  enough  of  one  an- 
other's dinners,  we  shan't  want  to  eat  one  an- 
other." 

Wistar  went  to  his  desk,  where  she  was  sitting. 
"  If  you  wish  it,"  he  said. 

"Ring  for  a  messenger!"  she  commanded. 
"And  may  I  have  paper  and  an  envelope?" 

Wistar  seldom  used  this  desk,  his  main  office 
being  in  the  factory,  and  it  was  kept  in  scrupu- 
lous order.  "  My  stenographer  puts  everything 
under  lock  and  key — to  save  Andrews  from  temp- 
tation, he  says."  Unlocking  a  drawer  he  gave  her 
the  stationery,  and  having  pulled  the  messenger 
call,  collected  the  papers  he  had  been  showing  and 
put  them  in  the  safe. 

"  What  do  you  think  can  have  become  of 
May?"  Judith  suddenly  cried.  She  asked  Pen- 
rhyn  to  stay  and  give  her  note  to  the  messenger, 
and  then,  "  Come !  "  she  said  to  Wistar,  as  she 
started  forth,  "  Help  me  find  her !  " 


76 


w 


CHAPTER    IX 

ISTAR  had  no  sooner  gone  than  a 
change  came  over  Penrhyn's  manner. 
"  You  put  up  a  strong  bluff,"  he  said 
to  Mr.  Sears,  "  but  I'm  afraid  you 
overdid  it!  " 

"  I  said  what  I  believed,"  the  old  gentleman 
answered  with  dignity.  '  The  logic  of  events  re- 
quires him  to  join  us.  In  the  end  he  will  have  to 
recognize  it." 

"He  join  us?  Not  he!  Didn't  you  see? 
He's  fairly  eaten  up  with  confidence  and  conceit. 
As  matters  stand,  we've  simply  got  to  know  how 
strong  he  is — and  if  you'd  given  the  least  hint  of 
weakening  he'd  have  shown  us!  " 

"  I  think  you've  misread  his  character.  He 
talks  big;  but  you  know  the  old  saying — '  barking 
dogs  don't  bite.'  " 

"  That  saying  has  been  revised.  You  know 
that  barking  dogs  don't  bite,  and  I  know  that 
barking  dogs  don't  bite;  but  that  dog  Wistar,  does 
he  know  that  barking  dogs  don't  bite?  " 

Sears  was  clearly  pained  by  Penrhyn's  failing 

77 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

courage,  but  still  far  from  disheartened.  "  At  the 
worst,"  he  said  firmly,  "  if  he  fights  us — and  I 
still  think  he  won't  fight — in  the  long  run  we  can 
stand  him  off." 

"Think?  The  long  run?  Thinking  and  the 
long  run  have  no  charm  for  the  underwriter!  To 
back  this  scheme  as  it  stands  I  should  have  to 
stake  my  heart's  blood.  I've  simply  got  to  know 
how  much  of  a  fight  he  can  put  up.  And  that 
list  would  have  told  us." 

"  Surely,  you  exaggerate !  We  shall  have  to 
go  in  heavily,  no  doubt ;  but  what  is  that  compared 
with — I  use  your  own  words — the  wealth  of 
Monte  Cristo !  " 

Penrhyn  laughed  outright.  "  7 — the  wealth 
of  Monte  Cristo !  You  are  as  innocent  as  our 
friend  Wistar.  That  was  the  merest  bluff !  /  not 
feel  the  loss  of  a  few  millions!  You're  right!  1 
shouldn't  feel  it.  I  should  be  dead." 

'  You  descend  to  such  tricks?  " 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  call  tricks.  This 
game  we're  playing  is  not  bridge.  It  is  business. 
We've  got  to  face  things  as  they  are.  How  do 
you  suppose  I  happened  to  get  this  last  chance  at 
Wistar?  That  explosion  of  mine  an  accident? 
My  dear  sir,  I  planned  the  whole  thing." 

'  That,  I  suppose,"  said  Mr.  Sears,  smiling 
without  humor,  "  is  one  of  your  jokes." 

"  Not  my  jol^e !  I  learned  the  trick  from  a  man 
78 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

who  uses  it  to  bash  farm  dogs  as  they  run  barking 
beneath  the  back  wheels.  He  warned  me  that  if 
I  put  enough  gas  into  the  muffler  it  would  blow 
out  the  head.  So  I  did;  and  I  calculated  so  neat- 
ly that  the  shebang  went  off  on  Wistar's  front 
stoop!  " 

"  I  am  surprised,"  said  Sears. 

"  Do  you  think  I  want  to  get  up  a  syndicate  to 
buy  a  Kilkenny  catfight,  and  at  the  finish  have  the 
end  of  one  tail  for  our  money?  What  I  want  to 
buy  is  a  trust.  Do  you  realize  what  he  says — 
and  the  beggar  seemed  to  be  telling  the  truth — 
that  our  own  people  are  going  back  on  us?  One 
glance  at  that  list  would  have  shown  whether  we 
stand  to  pick  up  a  few  cold  millions  or  drop 
them."  He  turned,  as  he  finished,  with  a  little 
gesture  of  disgust,  and  his  eye  fell  upon  Andrews, 
again  standing  at  the  door,  mute  and  watchful. 
In  the  heat  of  his  disappointment  he  had  not  heard 
the  door  open — or  had  it  been  opened  stealthily? 
"  Hello !  "  he  snapped.  "  Where  did  you  come 
from !  " 

'The  muffler  is  in,"  said  Andrews;  then  he 
added,  with  a  look  of  cunning :  "  Couldn't  help 
overhearing,  Mr.  Penrhyn." 

"  The  devil  you  couldn't!  " 
'  You  want  to  know  just  who  his  pals  are.     I 
keep   my  eyes   open.      Perhaps   I   could   put  you 
wise,  you  and  Mr.  Sears." 

79 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  You  are  both  watchful  and  generous.  But 
we  can  do  our  own  guessing  easier." 

"  We  can't  listen  to  this  sort  of  thing,"  Sears 
exclaimed.  "  If  the  motor  is  mended  we  must 
find  May  and  Judith."  As  he  spoke  he  went  out 
past  Andrews. 

Penrhyn  started  to  follow,  but  paused,  remem- 
bering Judith's  letter,  which  he  held  in  his  hand. 

"  'Tain't  guessing  I  refer  to,"  whispered  An- 
drews. "  Where  is  the  list  old  Wistar  spoke  of?  " 

"Where  do  you  suppose?"  Penrhyn  was  a 
student  of  human  nature,  he  told  himself,  and 
here  was  an  interesting  specimen  to  amuse  him 
while  he  waited.  "  Locked  up  in  the  safe,  of 
course." 

''That  little  bit  of  antique  furniture!  Johnny- 
on-the-Spot  could  get  into  it  in  five  minutes!  " 

"  You  want  me  to  take  up  with  safe-cracking, 
you  jail  bird!"  The  angry  light  in  Penrhyn's 
eyes  subsided,  however,  almost  as  quickly  as  it  had 
come. 

"  Hold  on,  now !  "  Andrews  retorted,  his  face 
clouding.  "  Them  ain't  the  words !  All  you  got 
to  do  is  to  put  up  a  round  thousand,  and  charge 
it  to  promotion  expenses.  Many's  the  gentleman 
done  that  before." 

He  came  closer,  and  Penrhyn  started  aside  to 
avoid  his  whisky  breath. 

As  he  did  so  the  door  opened,  and  Irvingdale 
80 


Smith  came  in — a  cheery-eyed,  black-mustached 
personality,  who  had  the  virtue  of  appearing  the 
unrepentant  pirate  that  he  was.  The  three  looked 
at  one  another  with  about  equal  surprise  and  sus- 
picion. 

"How  are  you?"  said  Penrhyn  nonchalantly. 
"  My  muffler-head  just  blew  out,  there  in  the 
street,  and  Wistar  has  been  kind  enough  to  lend 
me  a  man  to  put  it  in."  His  tone  implied  that 
it  would  not  be  as  easy  for  Smith  to  explain  his 
presence  in  this  particular  place. 

Smith  was  not,  however,  put  out.  "  Is  Mr. 
Wistar  in?"  he  asked  of  Andrews.  "I  came 
to  see  him  on  business." 

"  He's  been  and  gone,"  Andrews  answered 
without  hesitation.  His  voice  clearly  intimated 
that  Smith  had  better  go  too. 

"Very  well,"  said  Smith,  "I'll  call  again." 
And  nodding  to  Penrhyn  he  went  out. 

"He  came  to  see  you!"  Penrhyn  said,  con- 
fronting Andrews.  "More  crooked  business?" 

"  See  me — here  ?    Not  on  your  life !  " 

Penrhyn  saw  the  force  of  this. 

"  What  he's  after,"  Andrews  went  on,  giving 
voice  to  Penrhyn's  own  conclusion,  "  is  to  get  him- 
self with  the  rest  of  your  backsliders  on  that  there 
list!  When  do  you  want  it?" 

"  Not  at  all !  "  said  Penrhyn.  But  his  tone  was 
not  remarkable  for  conviction.  At  this  further 

81 


THE     CAVE      M  A  N 

evidence  that  his  allies  were  coolly  deserting  him, 
he  stood  a  while  in  silence. 

"Not  at  all?"  Andrews  echoed  significantly. 
"  Suppose  I  was  to  go  and  tell  old  man  Wistar 
what  I  just  overhearn — that  you've  got  cold 
feet:  so  cold  they're  frozen?  Sure  you  don't 
want  that  list?" 

"  I  don't,"  Penrhyn  corrected  himself,  "  unless 
you  can  give  it  to  me  to-night." 

"To-night?     How  early?" 

"  Before  seven-thirty,  in  my  rooms." 

Andrews's  face  fell.  "  That  means  crack  the 
safe  after  Wistar  goes,  and  before  the  garage 
closes !  "  His  hand  trembled  and  a  look  of  fear 
came  into  his  eyes.  "  It's  State's  prison,  and 
worse  than  the  last  bit.  I  can't  do  it!  " 

"  All  right,"  said  Penrhyn,  in  a  tone  of  re- 
lief. The  project  was  all  in  the  way  of  business, 
and  very  important  business,  but  habit  and  fear 
both  struggled  against  this  new  temptation.  He 
added,  however:  " — since  you've  dropped  your 
nerve." 

"  I  could  do  it  for  two  thousand.  It's  a  mat- 
ter of  millions  to  you,  Monte  Cristo." 

At  this  sally,  Penrhyn  laughed  with  hearty  ap- 
preciation, and  in  a  moment  his  scruples  lifted. 
The  peculiarities  of  certain  phases  of  American 
business  are  closely  allied  to  the  national  sense  of 
humor. 

82 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Andrews  felt  something  of  this  and  it  gave  him 
confidence.  "  Just  what  is  it  you  want,  and  how 
shall  I  pick  it  out  when  I  get  inside?  " 

Penrhyn  briefly  described  the  paper.  "  And 
hold  on!"  he  added.  "While  you're  about  it, 
if  I  give  you  two  thousand,  I  want  the  patterns 
and  records  of  a  new  gear-shifting  device;  that's 
right  in  your  line,  isn't  it?  " 

'  You  mean  to  crib  the  Invention  ?  Ain't  it 
patented?" 

"  Sure,"  said  Penrhyn;  "  but  I  want  to  see  it." 

Every  attraction  has  its  corresponding  repul- 
sion and  the  forces  that  made  these  two  men  allies 
made  them  also  mutually  suspicious. 

"If  you  find  anything  else  in  the  safe  that's  in. 
your  line,"  Penrhyn  added,  "  take  it,  for  all  of 
me." 

"  Say,  you're  a  slick  one!  "  Andrews  exclaimed. 
"  What  you  want  is  to  throw  Wistar  off  your 
track  and  make  the  circumstantial  evidence  point 
at  me !  But  I  know  a  thing  or  two — when  I  can 
remember  both  of  them!  Write  me  down  on 
paper  just  what  it  is  you  want." 

"Why  so?  "  said  Penrhyn  significantly.  "Can't 
you  remember — both  of  them?  " 

"  I  shall  have  other  things  on  my  mind!  When 
you're  working  on  the  keen  jump,  with  State's 
prison  round  the  corner,  every  second  counts. 
There's  heaps  o'  papers  in  that  safe,  and  all  on 

83 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

'em  got  names.  S'pose  I  get  confused?  You  write 
down  what  you  want,  and  I'll  get  it." 

Penrhyn  eyed  him  with  suspicion.  Yet  he  knew 
that  drink,  although  it  steadies  the  nerves,  is  apt 
to  let  slip  the  more  delicate  cogs  of  the  memory. 
The  stipulation,  he  concluded,  was  not  unreason- 
able. There  was  no  paper  on  the  desk,  and  he 
searched  his  pockets  in  vain.  His  eyes  fell  on 
Judith's  hand  bag,  which  she  had  left  on  the  blot- 
ting pad.  The  only  paper  in  it  was  a  pack  of 
calling  cards,  Judith's  and  her  father's. 

"  One  of  them  cards  will  do,"  Andrews  sug- 
gested. 

"  Isn't  there  any  scrap  of  paper?  The  margin 
of  a  newspaper?  " 

"  Come  to  think  of  it,"  said  Andrews,  his  look 
of  cunning  deepening,  "  I'd  rather  have  the  card. 
Much  more  official  like." 

"  Blackmail?  You  couldn't  convict  us  on  that, 
even  if  we  refused  to  give  up." 

"  But  I'd  make  a  hell  of  a  lot  of  talk!  After 
seeing  the  papers,  suppose  you  said  I'd  made  a 
mistake? — refused  me  the  money?  Where'd  I 
be  then?  If  you  put  it  in  black  and  white  on 
this  card,  you  wouldn't  dare  do  me  dirt.  That's 
all  I'm  after!"  Andrews  selected  one  of  Mr. 
Sears's  cards  and  gave  it  to  Penrhyn,  with  a  pen 
dipped  in  ink.  "  No  ticket,  no  soup!  See?  " 

"  My  dear  sir,"  Penrhyn  said,  with  a  smile  of 
84 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

frank  admiration,  "  in  slickness  I  yield  you  the 
bun!  With  that  evidence,  you  could  hold  me  up 
for  the  loveliest  blackmail!  Write  it  yourself!  " 
He  took  up  the  card,  and  with  a  few  sharp  strokes 
of  the  pen  scratched  out  the  name  and  address. 
Then  he  dictated,  and  after  a  moment's  reluctance 
Andrews  wrote.  "  Remember,"  Penrhyn  con- 
cluded, "before  seven-thirty,  by  messenger!  Un- 
til then,  cut  out  the  drink!  If  you  forget  my  ad- 
dress, look  in  the  telephone  book.  Call  yourself 
at  midnight  and  I'll  give  you  the  swag.  Now  it's 
up  to  us  to  separate."  He  handed  him  Judith's 
letter.  "  Wait  for  the  boy  outside,"  he  com- 
manded. 

"Hadn't  you  best  take  the  lady  her  bag?" 
Andrews  suggested. 

Penrhyn  picked  it  up,  and  then  put  it  down 
again.  "  That,"  he  said,  "  is  a  matter  that  had 
best  be  left  to  right  itself." 

As  Andrews  stood  in  the  garage  entrance  wait- 
ing for  Judith's  messenger,  a  slow  smile  spread 
upon  his  face.  "  You're  pretty  slick,  Penrhyn," 
he  said  to  himself.  "  But  not  quite  slick  enough ! 
It's  a  business  a  gentleman  ain't  got  no  right  to  mix 
up  with.  Two  thousand  down,  and  then — if  the 
cat  jumps  my  way — the  loveliest  blackmail !  " 


I 


CHAPTER   X 

T  was  a  strange  sensation  that  Wistar 
had  as  Judith  walked  with  him 
through  the  garage.  Here  she  had 
walked  a  thousand  times  before,  a 
memory  and  a  dream,  yet  scarcely  less  real  to  his 
consciousness.  It  was  to  forget  her,  or  at  least 
to  subdue  the  thought  of  her,  that  he  had  labored 
as  he  had,  day  and  night,  workdays  and  holidays; 
but  his  one  inspiration  had  been  this  fiction  of  his 
own  mind,  that  she  knew  of  his  sober  ambitions 
and  shared  them.  And  now,  as  she  walked  beside 
him  in  the  flesh,  with  the  dusk  of  summer  in  her 
fresh  cheeks  and  its  breezes  in  her  abundant 
hair,  she  was  alien  to  all  her  memory  had  in- 
spired, as  it  was  alien  to  her.  He  felt  as  if  in 
a  waking  dream,  in  which  truth  struggles  with 
the  vision  for  mastery. 

"  You  say  we  are  wrong,"  she  said.  "  But  fa- 
ther— smile  at  him  as  we  must,  what  he  says  has 
the  ring  of  truth.  7  believe  he  is  right !  " 

He  fixed  her  with  his  look.  "  You  believe  he 
is  right,  but  I  know !  It  is  my  business  to  know  1 

86 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

And  from  to-day  the  question  must  be  not  of  right, 
but  of  might!  " 

She  met  his  glance  resolutely.  "  Let  it  be  a 
question  of  might.  Your  business!  In  your  life 
of  the  cave  man,  you  have  slipped  behind  the 
march  of  progress  in  the  great  world  outside.  All 
about  us  it  is  plain  to  those  who  will  see  that  the 
future  of  industry  is  in  consolidation.  Against  the 
great  course  of  progress  you  a,re  powerless." 

He  smiled  sadly.  "Theoretically — perhaps! 
Practically — here  and  now — I  am  master.  You 
have  it  in  your  power  to  save  him  from  worse 
than  ruin.  Whatever  it  costs,  in  order  to  be  true 
to  yourself,  and  to  him,  you  must  save  him!  " 

Now  as  always,  his  dominance  roused  her  antag- 
onism. "  Must !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  By  what  com- 
pulsion? What  right  have  you  to  command  me?  " 

"  Because  I  love  you." 

"Love!     You,  who  would  sacrifice  us  all!" 

At  the  onset  of  a  nature  as  positive  as  his  own, 
Wistar's  courage  expanded.  Ten  years  ago  the 
issue  between  them  had  been  personal,  and  he  had 
gone  down  to  a  speedy  defeat.  Now,  he  felt, 
they,  were  two  pawns  in  the  vaster  game  of  fate, 
an  inevitable  conflict,  of  which  the  end  was  in 
other  hands  than  theirs.  "  Because  I  love  you," 
he  said,  "would  you  have  me  do  wrong?  " 

"  For  a  mere  opinion,  would  you  ruin — every- 
thing? It  is  grotesque,  inconceivable!  " 

87 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  If  only  I  might  do  as  you  wish!  It  is  my  fate 
to  fight  against  you.  And  to  do  that,  I  am  giving 
up  the  one  right  in  life  that  I  prize!  " 

"  What  right?  "  she  demanded. 

"  The  right  to  serve  you.  If  I  could  be  to  you 
what  Penrhyn  is,  if  I  could  do  for  you  what  he 
offers — "  He  broke  off  to  check  his  passion.  "  I 
might  not  win  you,"  he  concluded,  "  but  he  would 
not!" 

"And  why?" 

"  Because  I  am  the  better  man  1  " 

"  On  that  subject  also,"  she  said,  "  you  are  the 
authority."  But  it  was  easier  to  be  satirical  of  his 
pride  than  to  ignore  his  earnestness  and  convic- 
tion. As  they  walked  on,  searching  the  garage 
from  floor  to  floor,  it  was  she  who  broke  the  si- 
lence. "Where  do  you  suppose  May  is?  You 
don't  imagine  she  can  have  gone  out  to  walk  with 
Billy  in  his  overalls?  " 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  Is  there  any  place,"  she  suggested,  her  eyes 
smiling,  "  where  they  could  be  alone?  " 

He  caught  her  meaning.  '  The  paint  room  I 
The  paint  room,  ho !  "  And  he  led  her  to  it. 

Before  they  entered  Judith  knocked  with  an 
elaborate  little  flourish  of  her  fist,  at  which  they 
both  laughed.  After  a  brief  pause,  Wistar  opened 
the  door. 

Billy  and  May  were  in  a  far,  dark  corner,  be- 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

side  a  limousine,  the  door  of  which  was  left  open. 
Guilt  was  in  the  conscious  attitudes  of  both.  "  I 
was  showing  Miss  Sears  the  patent  sprinkler," 
Billy  said  with  the  excuse  of  self-accusation. 

May  turned  her  back. 

"The  patent  sprinkler?"  asked  Judith. 
"What  is  that?"  At  the  sight  of  May's  back, 
she  put  her  hand  upon  her  lips.  One  shoulder  of 
the  waist  bore  the  imprint  of  four  grimy  fingers. 

"  It's  a  fire  extinguisher  the  insurance  company 
made  us  put  in  here  on  account  of  the  turpentine 
and  varnish,'.'  Billy  explained  elaborately,  point- 
ing upward.  The  ceiling  was  studded  with  per- 
forated disks  of  metal  like  the  nozzle  of  a  garden 
hose.  "  The  least  little  rise  in  the  temperature, 
and  the  whole  place  is  doused." 

By  this  time  Sears  and  Penrhyn  had  joined 
them.  "  It  is  not,"  said  Penrhyn,  "  what  I  call 
a  successful  invention." 

"  Have  you  tried  it?  "  Billy  asked. 
'The  least  little  rise   of  temperature?"   Pen- 
rhyn asked.     "  Then  how  have  you  two  escaped  a 
ducking?  " 

Billy  saw  his  handiwork.  "  Get  out!  "  he  said 
in  a  fierce  aside  to  Wistar.  "  Shut  up,  can't 
you?"  Then  he  delivered  a  kick  on  his  cousin's 
heels. 

"  Cheer  up,  man,"  said  Wistar;  "  what  are  you 
kicking  about?     You're  engaged!" 
7  89 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Billy's  face  lighted  with  sudden  inspiration. 
"  Yes,  of  course,"  he  said.  "  We're  engaged!  " 

May  threw  herself  into  Judith's  arms  for  a 
brief  moment,  and  then  started  back  with  flaming 
cheeks.  "Now  what  are  you  all  laughing  at?" 
she  cried.  "Of  course  we're  engaged!"  The 
righteousness  of  her  anger  quelled  them  all.  But, 
like  another  lady,  she  protested  too  much.  "  In 
order  to  be  engaged  it  isn't  necessary,  is  it,  to  say 
a  whole  lot  of  things?  " 

"  I  was  just  going  to  say  it,"  Billy  explained, 
confused  with  anger,  "  when  Wistar  came  in 
and — "  His  rage  and  embarrassment  choked 
him.  He  went  protectingly  to  May. 

"  And  checked  the  flow  of  the  automatic  fire 
extinguisher,"  Penrhyn  concluded. 

"  Stanley !  "  Judith  cried,  as  vehemently  as  she 
could  for  laughing.  "You  are  intolerable!" 
She  reached  out  her  arms  about  the  two  un- 
fortunates, and  gathered  them  in  one  vast  em- 
brace of  sisterly  tenderness,  while  the  others 
stood  by,  a  little  ashamed,  perhaps,  of  their 
laughter. 

Presently  Judith  turned  to  her  father.  "  Have 
you  a  hanky,  Daddy?  I've  left  mine  somewhere 
in  my  bag."  Her  cheeks  were  streaming  with 
happy  tears. 

"  Shall  I  get  the  bag?  "  asked  Penrhyn.  "  Did 
you  leave  it  out  in  the  car?" 

90 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

"  There,  or  in  the  office,"  said  Judith,  between 
sobs  and  smiles  of  tenderness. 

Penrhyn  vanished. 

When  he  returned  the  others  were  in  the  mood 
of  reverent  sympathy.  But  he  -was  in  high  spirits. 
"The  car  is  mended!  "  he  cried.  To  Judith  he 
added:  "Are  you  fond  of  walking?" 

"Yes,  and  what  then?  " 

"  Then  perhaps  you  will  let  me  take  you  home 
in  that  automobile." 


w 


CHAPTER    XI 

HEN  the  messenger  had  come  and 
gone,  Andrews  felt  a  subtle  but  pow- 
erful influence  steal  through  his  fibers. 
His  nerves  responded  to  the  call  of 
perilous  adventure  with  the  ecstasy  of  the  dipso- 
maniac at  the  first  gulp  of  spirits,  or  of  the  tor- 
tured opium  fiend  again  inhaling  the  pipe.  He 
stood  more  erect,  and  the  twitching  muscles  of 
his  face  became  quiet.  The  calm  of  a  great  ex- 
altation rested  on  his  body,  and  his  mind  worked 
with  redoubled  acuteness  and  precision.  He 
strode  up  the  gangway  with  elastic  tread,  laugh- 
ing inwardly  to  think  that  with  one  stroke  more 
he  would  be  free  of  daily  labor,  for  to  him  that 
afternoon's  work  meant  riches  and  ease — otlum 
cum  dig.,  as  he  phrased  it. 

When  Penrhyn's  car  glided  away  from  the 
curb,  Billy  hurried  to  the  wash  room.  It  was 
already  past  six  o'clock,  and  Andrews  knocked  off 
work  too,  taking  pains  to  leave  the  garage  at  the 
same  time  as  Billy,  and  giving  him  a  distant  and 
courteous  good  night.  He  was  clever  at  establish- 

92 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ing  an  alibi.  When  he  reached  his  lodgings  by 
the  river,  he  rejoiced  to  meet  his  landlady,  who 
was,  in  her  own  descriptive  phrase,  rushing  the 
growler,  as  she  did  nightly  at  this  her  supper 
hour.  One  more  link  in  the  alibi,  Andrews  ob- 
served with  inward  satisfaction. 

On  entering  his  room,  the  first  object  to  catch 
hJs  eye  was  a  large  Bible  on  the  bureau.  He 
paused  at  sight  of  it,  and  then  with  an  angry  im- 
pulse, threw  it  upon  the  floor  and  kicked  it  be- 
neath the  bottom  drawer.  Opening  the  drawer, 
he  took  from  among  his  winter  underclothes  the 
few  tools  of  the  modern  cracksman.  Then  he 
reached  above  the  door  and  took  down  a  flat  key 
— the  key  of  Wistar's  office. 

When  he  reached  the  sidewalk,  he  waited  until 
the  landlady  returned  with  her  foaming  pitcher 
of  beer. 

"  Afther  supper,"  he  said  with  his  most  ingra- 
tiating brogue,  "  I'll  give  mesilf  the  plisure  of 
smoking  a  pipe  wid"  ye,  Mrs.  Madigan,  if  ye  don't 
moind." 

"  Come  and  smoke  two,"  she  said. 

Now  came  the  more  ticklish  business.  He  went 
to  the  saloon  and  calling  for  a  stiff  drink  of 
whisky  managed  to  engage  the  busy  barkeeper  in 
conversation.  He  made  a  humorous  pretense  that 
he  was  falling  off  the  water  wagon,  and  referred 
to  a  not  unfamiliar  story  from  the  old  country, 

93 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

of  the  Irishman  in  a  similar  plight  whom  the 
priest  had  threatened,  if  he  ever  drank  again,  that 
he  would  turn  him  into  a  rat.  '  When  ye  see 
me  little  ears  crop  out,  and  me  tail  begin  to 
sprout,"  pleaded  Andrews  with  mock  terror, 
"  for  the  love  of  Mike,  man,  kill  the  cat!  "  The 
barkeeper  laughed  heartily — it  was  his  business 
to.  Then  Andrews  went  to  the  plentifully  stocked 
free-lunch  counter,  and  after  mingling  for  a  mo- 
ment with  the  familiar  crowd  about  it,  slunk  out 
by  the  side  entrance,  unnoticed. 

He  hastily  made  his  way  back  to  the  garage 
through  the  most  crowded  streets,  peering  into 
the  shop  windows  as  he  passed,  so  as  to  avert  his 
face.  Everything  depended  on  his  approaching 
and  entering  the  garage  unseen.  The  hour  was 
in  his  favor,  being  that  at  which  most  of  the  hands 
were  at  supper.  He  let  himself  into  the  office  un- 
observed. 

Shades  and  awnings  were  down,  and  the  twi- 
light without  penetrated  feebly.  But  he  had  no 
need  of  light.  He  replaced  certain  bulbs  on  the 
electric  fixture  with  plugs  attached  to  two  sets  of 
wires.  The  end  of  one  of  these  sets  he  connected 
with  the  lock  of  the  safe.  On  the  end  of  the  other 
was  a  carbon  style  with  a  wooden  handle.  When 
he  touched  the  style  to  the  safe,  it  became  incan- 
descent, like  the  carbon  of  an  arc  light,  rapidly 
heating  the  metal.  A  common  crockery  plate, 

94 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

through  a  hole  in  the  center  of  which  the  style 
was  thrust,  protected  his  hand  from  the  heat  of 
the  molten  iron,  and  a  pair  of  black  goggles 
shaded  his  eyes  from  the  glare. 

Once,  as  he  worked,  he  heard  the  steps  of  some 
one  walking  up  the  gangway  outside,  and  his 
hand  trembled,  rattling  the  plate  on  its  style. 
Again,  there  was  the  sound  of  a  motor,  turning 
into  the  garage  at  high  speed.  His  stomach 
seemed  to  fall  within  him,  and  for  a  moment  he 
felt  sick.  But  there  was  no  time  to  investigate 
every  stirring  of  a  mouse.  Such  turns  were  the 
incidents  of  his  vocation. 

Presently,  the  metal  surrounding  the  style  was 
white-hot  and  plastic;  and  though  it  was  an  inch 
thick  and  more,  he  bored  a  hole  through  without 
difficulty.  With  dexterous  speed  and  precision  he 
made  a  semicircle  of  such  punctures  about  the 
lock,  the  whole  region  of  metal  becoming  malle- 
able. The  door  of  the  safe  swung  open. 

The  nervous  tension  under  which  he  had 
worked  now  mounted  to  a  sense  of  triumph. 
There  was  a  messenger  office  on  his  way  home; 
and  he  calculated  that,  in  ten  minutes  more,  he 
would  be  smoking  with  Mrs.  Madigan.  Between 
then  and  the  hour  of  calling  on  Penrhyn  to  claim 
his  reward,  he  reflected,  there  would  be  time  to 
blow  himself  to  a  restaurant  dinner.  He  took  the 
card  out  of  his  pocket,  and  prepared  to  read  it 

95 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

by  the  light  of  an  electric  pocket  lamp.  But  he 
stopped  short,  for  at  that  moment  he  heard  the 
office  door  open. 

A  scattering  chill  spread  down  his  spine,  but  his 
nerves,  weak  to  apprehension,  responded  firmly 
to  the  call  of  active  danger.  He  grasped  his  re- 
volver and  glanced  fiercely  toward  the  entrance. 
There  were  more  sounds,  as  of  some  one  coming 
in;  but  to  his  amazement  he  could  see  nothing. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes,  he  was  blindfolded. 
He  tore  the  black  spectacles  from  his  eyes.  Still 
he  was  in  darkness.  With  an  access  of  terror, 
he  realized  that  his  vision  had  not  yet  recovered 
from  the  dazzling  glare  in  which  he  had  been 
working.  His  one  thought  was  to  cry  "  Hands 
up !  "  but  his  voice  was  choked  by  the  primeval 
terror  of  midnight.  With  a  sudden  click,  a  light 
in  the  electrolier  flared  out,  and  then,  though  daz- 
zled, he  saw  the  white  front  of  an  evening  shirt. 
Wistar  was  standing  by  the  door. 

"Oh,  Andrews!"  Wistar  said  quietly,  in  a 
matter-of-fact  tone.  "  Is  there  anything  I  can  do 
for  you  ?  " 

Was  it  possible  Wistar  did  not  suspect?  For 
a  moment  Andrews  debated  the  chances  of  escape. 

But  the  moment  was  too  much.  With  a  sud- 
den leap,  Wistar  was  upon  him,  gripping  his  re- 
volver hand  and  swinging  him  about  face.  In 
another  instant  his  two  arms  were  pinioned  be- 

96 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

hind,  the  revolver  was  wrenched  from  one  fist 
and  the  card  forced  from  the  other.  Then  he  was 
released.  Turning,  he  found  that  Wistar  was 
scanning  the  card. 

"'(i)  Gear-shifting  devices,''  Wistar  coolly 
read.  "  '  Drawings,  descriptions  and  records  of 
tests.  (2)  Automobile  makers — list  of  figures!' 
To  whom  are  these  things  of  interest?  "  He  was 
still  quite  calm,  but  there  was  a  sterner  ring  in 
his  voice. 

Andrews  was  silent. 

"To  our  guests  of  this  afternoon?  I  noticed 
you  were  interested  in  our  conversation.  That, 
you  know,  was  why  I  came  back." 

"  I  done  it  for  myself,"  said  Andrews. 

Wistar  went  to  the  safe  and  took  out  the  two 
papers. 

"  This,  perhaps,"  he  said,  indicating  the  pack- 
age of  Minot's  designs.  "But  not  this!"  he 
added,  showing  the  list  of  his  allies.  "  One  of 
our  guests  bribed  you  ?  Which  one  ?  " 

Andrews  was  mute. 

"It  was  Penrhyn!" 

Still  the  man  made  no  answer. 

"You  forget?"  Wistar  observed.  "No  mat- 
ter." Then  he  pressed  a  bell. 

As  he  did  so,  Andrews's  resolution  gave  way 
in  a  fit  of  hysterical  tears.  "  Don't  call  the  cop- 
per!" he  implored.  "I  didn't  steal  nothing! 

97 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

You  still  got  it  all!  But  they  would  give  me 
twenty  years  all  the  same.  Think  of  it,  sir — you 
who  have  always  known  liberty  and  ease! 
Twenty  years  of  livin'  death!  I'd  be  sixty  when 
I  got  out,  if  I  lived — an  old  man  out  of  work! 
Only  don't  call  the  cop,  and  I  will  tell  you  any- 
thing!" 

Wistar  reflected  a  moment.  "  If  you  said  it 
was  Mr.  Sears,"  he  said,  "  I  should  know  you 
lied." 

Andrews  threw  himself  upon  the  desk  and 
sobbed  hysterically. 

"  Quit  that!  "  Wistar  thundered.  "  I  promise 
— I  won't  jug  you !  " 

The  suddenness  with  which  Andrews  recovered 
his  self-possession  was  instructive. 

"  I  know  who  wants  this,"  Wistar  deliberated, 
with  quiet  irony.  "  As  for  the  invention,  I'm 
sorry  to  say  I  can't  give  it  to  them.  It's  not  mine. 
And  in  the  list  here  there  are  some  matters  that 
are  confidential."  He  opened  his  pocketknife 
and  cut  the  five  names  of  the  deserting  allies  of 
the  trust.  "  But  the  rest  you  are  at  liberty  to 
send." 

All  Wistar's  efforts  at  persuasion,  all  his  threats, 
had  gone  wrong;  but  chance  had  now  put  it  in 
his  power  to  give  his  enemies  the  most  absolute 
and  convincing  evidence  of  the  fight  he  stood 
ready  to  make.  He  unlocked  a  drawer  in  the 

98 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

desk  and  took  out  an  envelope.  "  Here !  Write 
the  address  on  this." 

"What  address?"  asked  Andrews. 

"  Can't  you  remember  yet?  "  Wistar  remarked 
with  dry  unconcern. 

A  workman  entered,  and  Wistar  bade  him  ring 
for  a  messenger. 

Then  he  turned  to  Andrews.  "  Remember 
your  promise!  It's  not  too  late  yet  to  jug  you. 
Besides,  if  you  don't  send  it,  you  lose  all  they 
have  promised  you.  Nothing  worse  could  hap- 
pen, even  if  I  read  what  you  write.  And  I  give 
you  my  word  of  honor  I  won't  read  it." 

Andrews  looked  at  him,  questioning,  incredu- 
lous. 

"  You  don't  understand  why  I  do  this  ?  "  Wis- 
tar pursued,  half  in  satire,  half  in  earnest.  "  I 
don't  want  to  do  you  out  of  the  swag!  I  am  very 
much  afraid  you'll  need  it.  I've  given  you  your 
last  chance.  I  ought  to  have  known  long  ago 
that  there's  no  use  trying  to  help  you." 

Andrews  addressed  the  envelope  and,  turning 
the  writing  down,  began  to  fold  the  paper. 

"  By  the  way,"  Wistar  interrupted,  "  you  had 
better  let  me  add  a  word  or  two !  "  He  took  the 
paper  and  wrote:  "  Minot's  drawings  would  be  of 
no  use  to  you.  The  invention  is  to  be  patented 
at  once  and  a  strong  company  formed  to  exploit 
it.  The  names  of  your  deserting  allies  you  will 

99 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

know  very  soon,  if  you  fight  us,  and  very  well." 
Then  he  returned  the  paper  to  Andrews,  who  in- 
closed it  and  addressed  the  envelope. 

"  Dimmick,"  Wistar  said  to  the  workman, 
"  Andrews  is  discharged.  He's  a  bad  lot,  as  you 
see,  and  I'm  done  with  him." 

Andrews  was  breathing  more  freely  now.  "  I 
am  a  bad  lot,  you're  right,"  he  said.  '  You've 
been  good  to  me.  But  it's  no  use.  Give  me  some 
real  brainy  work,  and  I'm  Johnny-on-the-Spot. 
But  day-labor — it  bores  me.  I  can  stand  anything 
better  than  ong-we" 

When  the  messenger  entered,  Wistar  prepaid 
the  charge.  Andrews  gave  him  the  letter  and 
started  to  follow  him  out. 

"  One  moment,"  said  Wistar;  "  you  have  quite 
forgotten  who  bribed  you  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  say  nobody  bribed  me." 

"It  was  Mr.  Penrhyn!" 

"  No,  sir,"  Andrews  answered  with  all  the  ap- 
pearance of  truth.  "  I  give  you  my  word  of 
honor  it  wasn't  him."  Then  he  went  out  with 
Dimmick. 

When  Wistar  was  alone  he  looked  at  the  marks 
of  the  pen  on  the  card  where  the  name  and  ad- 
dress had  been.  The  "  Mr."  was  legible,  and 
the  tops  of  the  capitals  still  indicated  the  begin- 
ning of  given  name  and  surname.  With  this  data, 
it  was  the  work  of  a  moment  to  calculate  that  the 

100 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

given  name  was  too  long  for  "  Stanley  "  and  the 
surname  too  short  for  "  Penrhyn."  He  tried 
"  Livingston  Sears,"  and  it  seemed  to  fit.  Again 
and  again  he  made  the  calculation  with  the  same 
result.  "Bribe  giver?  Thief!"  He  said  the 
words  to  himself,  after  the  manner  of  lonesome 
men.  "  It  isn't  possible!  Her  father!  " 

He  sat  a  long  time  in  silence,  and  the  more 
he  thought  the  more  his  suspicion  preyed  upon 
him.  Slowly  his  anger  rose,  and  with  it  his  con- 
victions. His  instinct  had  been  right  from  the 
first.  With  such  men  he  could  make  no  alliance. 

Presently  he  remembered  that  he  had  promised 
to  dine  with  Mr.  Sears.  If  his  suspicions  were 
just,  that  was  not  possible.  Yet  he  was  too  right- 
minded  and  too  fair  to  assume  the  guilt  of  any 
man  until  it  was  proved,  and  least  of  all  of  Ju- 
dith's father.  He  resolved  to  go  to  Sears  at  once, 
and  lay  the  whole  matter  frankly  before  him.  But 
he  had  no  hopes  of  the  outcome.  "War!"  he 
said.  "  Whatever  the  cost,  the  end  can  only  be 
war!" 

What  the  cost  would  be  Wistar  was  only  too 
painfully  aware.  At  best  he  pictured  Judith  fad- 
ing into  middle  life  as  a  governess  or  a  paid  com- 
panion. At  the  worst — but  his  mind  refused  to 
picture  what  her  life  would  be  with  Penrhyn. 


101 


o 


CHAPTER   XII 

N  leaving  the  garage  Judith  asked 
her  father  to  take  the  front  seat  with 
Penrhyn,  and  prepared  to  sit  behind 
with  May. 

"  But  you  are  riding  with  mel  "  Penrhyn  pro- 
tested, drawing  her  aside. 

"Surely  you  understand!"  she  expostulated. 
"  Think  of  poor  May — what  a  drop  from  the 
paint  room,  if  she  has  nobody  even  to  hold  her 
hand!" 

Penrhyn's  answer  was  to  make  a  face,  at  which 
Judith  laughed  good-naturedly,  stepping  into  the 
tonneau.  Then  he  took  his  place  at  the  wheel 
beside  Mr.  Sears,  and  set  out  to  make  the  circuit 
of  the  Park  before  starting  home. 

"  Oh,  Judy!  "  May  whispered.  "  If  you  could 
only  do  it  too !  It's  such  fun !  " 

"A  matchmaker  already!"  Judith  laughed. 
"Who  shall  it  be?" 

'  You  know  who !  He's  so  tall  and  straight. 
And  his  eyes — if  he  looked  at  me  only  once  as 
he  looks  at  you  always,  he  could  spread  me  on  his 
toast  for  breakfast,  I'd  be  that  melted!  " 

102 


"  Horrors !  That  too,  already  ?  You  are  in- 
satiable !  " 

"  Hold  on,  there,"  Penrhyn  cried,  looking 
around  at  Judith  with  a  grimace.  "  That's  not 
playing  the  game !  " 

May  made  a  face  in  response  which  he  did  not 
see,  and  it  was  perhaps  as  well. 

Penrhyn  had  scarcely  turned  his  back  on  them 
again  when  a  vigorous  knock  developed  in  the 
motor. 

May  leaned  forward  and  warned  him  of  this, 
as  she  had  done,  in  fact,  once  before  that  after- 
noon. Since  Billy  had  been  home  from  college, 
she  had  developed  the  ear  of  an  expert.  "  If 
you  don't  retard  the  spark,"  she  said,  "  you'll 
blow  us  up  all  over  again !  " 

Penrhyn  answered  that  the  trouble  was  with 
the  carburetor,  which  was  running  too  thin  a  mix- 
ture. His  explanation  was  cut  short  by  a  report 
in  the  muffler.  He  brought  the  car  to  a  stand  in 
front  of  another  of  the  many  garages  of  upper 
Broadway;  and,  saying  that  it  needed  a  thorough 
overhauling,  asked  Mr.  Sears  to  take  May  home 
on  a  trolley — the  telltale  imprint  on  the  girl's 
shoulder  was  hidden  beneath  her  automobile 
cloak. 

Judith  was  too  good  a  sportsman  to  leave  Pen- 
rhyn to  go  home  alone,  a  fact  which  had  no  doubt 
entered  into  his  calculation. 

103 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

As  the  trolley  bowled  away  from  them,  he  pro- 
fessed to  have  thought  of  something,  and,  making 
a  few  passes  beneath  the  bonnet,  he  mounted  and 
tried  the  car.  It  went  as  well  as  ever — though 
that  is  not  saying  much.  And  so  it  happened  that 
they  two  alone  bumbled  into  the  Park  and  made 
the  circuit  toward  the  Fifth  Avenue  gate.  Ju- 
dith was  too  independent  and  too  sure  of  herself 
to  pay  much  heed  to  matters  of  form;  and,  as 
Penrhyn  urged,  the  one  great  joy  of  midsummer 
in  Manhattan  was  that  conventionalities  relax. 

The  most  resolute  maiden  can  never  be  quite 
insensible  to  the  idea  of  marriage,  and  Judith  was 
far  from  this.  That  she  had  remained  single  was 
as  little  the  result  of  preference  as  it  was  of  any 
lack  of  opportunity.  Her  skirts  had  scarcely 
come  down  to  her  boottops  when  grown  men  be- 
gan to  fall  at  her  feet;  and  there  had  never  been 
a  time  when  fuzzy-faced  boys  had  not  lavished 
on  her  the  ecstasies  of  juvenile  adoration.  The 
atmosphere  of  devotion,  which  is  usually  the  rar- 
est, as  it  is  the  most  powerful  and  the  finest  ex- 
perience of  a  woman's  life,  had  become  a  habit, 
and  a  bad  habit — as  she  clearly  saw  in  its  penalty. 
For  she  was  scarcely  out  of  her  teens  when  the 
insistent  wooing  of  the  elementary  male  struck 
across  her  broadest  sense  of  humor,  reminding 
her  of  the  watery  croaking  of  the  bullfrog  for  his 
mate;  and  the  self-centered  passion  of  the  soul 

104 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

hunter  recalled  the  story  of  Narcissus  infatuated 
with  his  own  image — which  thereafter  became  to 
her  not  a  classic  legend  but  a  satire  on  young 
men  with  pointed  beards.  Kind  and  considerate 
she  always  remained,  but  her  deepest  and  most 
personal  feelings  were  cased  in  the  comedian's  ar- 
mor of  laughter,  which  is  so  often  the  defense  of 
a  nature  ill  at  ease  in  the  world.  By  degrees  the 
appeal  of  passion  had  come  to  amuse  her  less  than 
it  roused  her  to  revolt.  She  was  herself:  why 
should  anyone  presume  to  share  her  life,  either 
as  her  slave  or  as  her  master?  Yet  she  knew  that 
this  love  of  personal  independence  was  the  in- 
stinct of  spinsterhood,  and  she  watched  it  increase 
upon  her  with  a  very  real  concern  as  the  golden 
decade  of  the  twenties  advanced  year  by  year.  It 
was  in  fact  the  tragedy  of  her  life — if  her  life 
can  be  said  to  have  had  a  tragedy;  for  she  recog- 
nized more  and  more  clearly  that  her  one  great 
chance  of  happiness  lay  in  love  and  marriage,  and 
more  and  more  she  felt  that  her  existence  was 
empty  and  profitless.  The  extremity  of  her  devo,- 
tion  to  her  father,  as  she  herself  was  half  aware, 
was  the  result  of  an  instinct  to  be  of  supreme  value 
to  somebody. 

With  regard  to  Penrhyn  she  had  always  a  half- 
conscious  misgiving.     There  was  a  trace  of  cyni- 
cism in  his  wit,  a  brittleness  in  his  good  humor, 
that  gave  her  at  times  the  effect  of  a  lack  of  breed- 
8  105 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ing,  even  of  moral  tone.  But  for  the  most  part 
she  laid  the  blame  upon  herself:  it  was  her  foible 
to  be  captious  with  men.  She  owed  him  consider- 
ation, moreover,  for  her  father's  sake. 

The  Park  was  deserted  at  this  hour,  and  when 
they  reached  the  vine-covered  crags  that  over- 
hung the  road  at  the  northern  end  of  it  Penrhyn 
drew  up  in  their  refreshing  shadows.  A  great 
ledge  reached  out  above  their  heads,  breathing 
earthy  sweetness  from  its  mantle  of  English  ivy. 

"What  a  sportsman  you  are!  "  he  exclaimed, 
"what  a  comrade!"  He  turned  in  his  seat  and 
faced  her. 

At  this  moment,  as  Judith  recognized,  his 
glance  was  more  personal  than  she  had  ever  known 
it,  and  more  earnest.  She  shrugged  her  shoulders, 
and  drew  back  in  her  seat. 

"  You  know — what  the  matter  is,"  he  said  in- 
tensely, almost  fiercely.  "  You  must  know !  " 

"  I  am  sorry !  I  hoped  it  might  be  different 
— with  you.  But  it's  always  this  way!  " 

"  Always !  You  mean  that  I'm  like  everybody 
else?" 

"  In  one  respect,  yes !  Meeting,  liking,  com- 
rades— a  charming  comedy.  Every  friend  a  dif- 
ferent friend,  and  a  delightful  friend.  You, 
Stanley,  are  very  different,  and  very  delightful. 
But  then  comes  the  catastrophe  that  makes  all  men 
alike !  "  She  broke  off,  and  presently  added  with 

106 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

a  sad  little  smile :  "  Every  time  I  am  deserted  I 
am  lonesomer  and  more  forlorn !  " 

"  Lonesome !  You  can't  be  more  so  than  I  have 
been,  day  in  and  day  out,  by  your  very  side !  You 
will  never  know  what  that  has  cost  me!"  He 
turned  his  eyes  full  upon  her,  and  she  met  them 
with  a  quick,  courageous  glance  as  if  to  discover 
the  passion  she  dreaded  to  find  in  him.  But  now, 
as  always,  he  exerted  his  self-control.  "  You  say 
you  are  lonesome.  You  are  young  now,  and  will 
be  for  many  years.  But  you  will  never  be  less 
alone!  And  I — /  am  lonesome! — most  of  all 
when  I  am  with  you,  pretending  that  I  don't  love 
you!  I  can't  stand  it  always."  He  looked  at  her 
resolutely.  '  This  is  our  last  day  together — un- 
less you  make  it  the  first  together]  Think!  " 

"  Haven't  I  thought?  But  the  escape!  Marry? 
Marry  a  man !  " 

"  Marry  me!  "  he  flashed,  with  his  amiable  air 
of  grotesque.  Then  he  added  with  a  burlesque 
as  of  selling  stocks:  "  I  advise  it." 

"  A  husband  is  a  husband!  If  you  don't  have 
one,  I  know  you  are  damned.  But  you  are  damned 
even  worse  if  you  do !  " 

"  Yet  you  have  always  liked  to  be  with  men ! 
Why  have  you  never  married?  " 

Judith  reflected  a  while.  "  Sooner  or  later, 
even  those  I  liked  most — the  way  they  looked  at 
me  was  horridl  You  know  what  I  mean?" 

107 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

"Of  course — the  brutes !  " 

She  paused,  not  quite  satisfied.  Then  she  said 
with  the  frankness  that  was  so  much  a  part  of 
her:  "It  may  be  my  fault,  too.  The  one  way 
not  to  get  burned  is  always  to  be  playing  with  fire. 
May's  life  has  been  so  different  from  mine — and 
now  look  at  the  blessed  dear!  " 

'  The  only  trouble  with  you  is  that  the  man 
doesn't  live  who  is  worthy  of  you." 

"  No,  no!  "  she  protested.     "  It  is  not  that!  " 

He  looked  at  her  intently.  "  Have  you  never 
been  in  love?  " 

"  Once,  when  I  was  eight  years  old,  with  my 
music  teacher.  He  was  an  Italian,  with  black, 
dreamy  eyes.  For  him,  I  would  have  done  any- 
thing! He  fell  in  love  with  my  mother's  maid. 
I  was  jealous — so  jealous  that  it  made  me  posi- 
tively ill.  But  he  married  her!  "  She  laughed 
and  then  continued,  quite  seriously,  "  It  was  years 
before  I  got  over  that.  Even  now  the  mood  of 
it  comes  back  to  me." 

"  Yet  marriage  is  the  common  lot !  All  our 
ancestors  have  gone  in  for  it!  Happiness  lies  in 
the  normal.  Isn't  it  less  important  whom  you 
marry  than  to  be  married — granted  a  few  essen- 
tials— congeniality,  and  all  that." 

Judith  shivered.  "  But  those  solemn,  those 
awful  words  in  the  prayer  book!  " 

"  We'll  leave  out  the  *  obey.'  " 
108 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

She  shook  her  head.  "  I  could  promise  to 
obey.  The  will  is  its  own  master.  But  to  prom- 
ise to  love,  to  honor  a  man — a  husband — for- 
ever!" She  broke  off  with  whimsical  scorn. 
"  I  should  hate  him  in  three  weeks,  and  de- 
spise myself!  And  then,  there  is  always  the 
chance " 

"What  chance?" 

"  I  have  noticed  that  marriage  is  often  a  prison 
cell  that  makes  the  guilty  wretch  look  through  the 
bars  upon  the  world  outside — even  if  it  is  for  the 
first  time — as  beautiful!  " 

"  You  never  cared  for  anyone  more  than  for 
me!" 

"  To  go  in  to  dinner  with,  you  are  the  most 
charming  man  in  the  world.  But  to  come  down 
to  breakfast — "  She  shrugged  one  shoulder  very 
expressively. 

"  We'll  dine  three  times  a  day !  " 

"  Do  you  call  that  the  normal !  It  sounds  to 
me  like  indigestion." 

"  Yet  if  you  .  .  .  came  behind  the  bars  .  .  . 
who  is  there  outside  to  fear?  " 

She  shook  her  head,  and  for  a  moment  they 
were  silent. 

All  around  them  was  midsummer  verdure,  fresh 
and  abundant,  through  which,  far  ahead,  there 
was  a  glimpse  of  the  city,  bathed  in  the  glow  of 
the  early  evening  sky.  She  had  almost  forgotten 

109 


THE     CAVE     M  A  N 

Penrhyn  in  the  beauty  of  it  when  he  turned  upon 
her  with  the  air  of  confronting  her. 

"You  mean  Wistar!  " 

Again  she  shrugged  her  shoulder.  "  Among 
the  others — perhaps!  " 

He  flushed  with  anger,  and  took  from  his 
pocket  an  evening  paper,  which  he  had  bought  on 
the  sidewalk — the  world  was  always  with  him — 
and  turned  to  a  report,  apparently  more  authen- 
tic than  those  that  had  preceded  it,  of  the  com- 
bination of  foreign  manufacturers.  "  If  this  is 
true,  they've  stolen  a  march  on  us — and  all  on 
account  of  James  Wistar  &  Co. !  For  the  sake 
of  an  obstinate  idea,  a  blind  prejudice,  he  is  ready 
to  wreck  everything.  Do  you  remember  the  last 
time  one  of  your  father's  promotions  failed? 
Except  for  your  presence  of  mind,  the  ball  would 
have  struck  not  his  shoulder  but  his  heart!  Wis- 
tar is  forcing  him  to  the  wall.  I  am  working  to 
save  him.  Whenever  you  see  his  poor,  lame  arm, 
remember  that!  " 

She  met  his  plea  bravely  and  not  without  re- 
sentment. "  The  moment  you  lose  faith,"  she 
said,  "  you  are  to  say  so!  " 

"  Of  course !  " 

"  As  for  my  future — if  the  worst  comes  to  the 
worst,  I  can  work!  "  Already,  as  she  now  told 
him,  she  had  had  the  offer  of  a  position  as  manag- 
ing saleswoman  in  a  new  and  fashionable  bureau 

no 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

of  home  supplies.  The  salary  would  be  small, 
but  enough  to  live  on- — even  to  provide  for  her 
father;  and  she  looked  forward  to  a  life  of  self- 
supporting  usefulness  as  far  better  than  her  ex- 
istence of  the  past  few  years. 

"  Of  course !  Why,  of  course,"  he  repeated, 
this  time  with  a  more  accurate  note  of  conviction. 

"  As  for  Mr.  Wistar,"  she  went  on,  with  her 
instinctive  honesty,  "  he  is  not  quite  as  bad  as  you 
say.  He  would  give  anything  in  the  world  not  to 
oppose  us — except  his  opinions." 

"  Are  you  afraid,"  he  demanded,  "  to  leave 
Wistar  outside  the  bars?  " 

"Afraid!"  she  repeated  with  sudden  anima- 
tion. "  No !  Of  all  the  men  I  have  ever  known, 
he  is  the  most  horridl  " 

"The  blackguard!" 

'  That  is,"  she  added  in  a  voice  that  was  un- 
wontedly  impersonal,  "  of  all  the  nice  men." 

He  was  silent  a  long  time.  "  I'm  trying 
to  think  it  out,"  he  presently  said.  "  You're  not 
unmarried  from  choice?" 

"  That's  what  makes  it  so  hopeless.  The  girls 
who  glory  most  to  be  old  maids  are  the  first  to — 
what  do  they  call  it? — make  their  catches?" 

"  Pity  the  case  of  poor  Judith!  She  was  loved 
by  twenty  and  married  none :  and  in  the  end  the 
gray-headed  seamstress  who  never  had  a  lover 
was  no  worse  an  old  maid  than  she!  " 

in 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"The  gray  hairs!"  she  laughed,  "I've  had 
them  since  I  was  eighteen.  I  can  pluck  them  out! 
But  the  old-maid  ways — I  watch  them  growing 
one  by  one.  You  can't  pluck  them  out !  They  are 
a  part  of  you !  " 

"  Then  let  me  love  you !  "  he  cried,  almost  for- 
getting himself  in  a  moment  of  passion.  But  he 
went  on,  with  a  quick  touch  of  grotesque :  "  It's 
got  to  be  somebody !  "  Then  he  added  with  ap- 
pealing, childlike  persuasiveness:  "Let's  be  com- 
rades— bachelor  comrades!  " 

"  But  still  there  would  be  the  bars !  " 

"  In  another  year  you  will  be  thirty !  " 

"  Two  years,  almost — you  are  very  unkind ! 
But  then — you  don't  need  to  tell  me ! — I  shall  be 
a  real  old  maid." 

"  You  promise,  when  you  are  that,  to — to  be 
comrades?  That  is  the  best  part  of  being  mar- 
ried. That  is  what  marriage  comes  to,  in  the  end, 
if  it  is  happy — in  spite  of  all  the  romance  of  be- 
lieving otherwise.  Why  not  begin  with  reason 
and  sense?  " 

She  was  silent.  Overhead  a  large  gray  squirrel, 
that  would  leap  upon  anyone's  forearm  for  a  pea- 
nut in  the  Mall,  dashed  out  upon  the  crag  and 
chattered  at  them  with  ecstatic  resentment  against 
this  invasion  of  his  wilding  citadel.  But  it  would 
have  taken  some  one  much  more  deeply  versed 
than  Judith  in  the  wisdom  of  the  heart  to  spell  the 

112 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

present  warning  for  her  implied  in  his  diminutive 
rage. 

"  It  sounds  sensible,"  she  said. 

"Then  promise!"  He  reached  forth  both 
hands. 

She  drew  back  at  first,  and  then  took  one  of 
them  in  a  feminine  version  of  a  masculine  hand- 
shake— which  was  about  as  near  the  real  thing 
as  if  she  had  thrown  a  stone.  "  Comrades!  "  she 
said.  "  When  I  am  a  real  old  maid!  " 

Penrhyn's  face  lighted,  but  his  discretion  was 
admirable,  and  he  said  no  more. 

There  was  a  gas  light  just  in  front  of  them  that 
burned  with  a  dense,  white  flame.  The  lamp- 
lighter came  up  with  his  ladder  and  snorting  hand- 
lamp  and  lighted  it,  eying  them  furtively. 

Penrhyn  cranked  the  engine  and  sped  away 
down  the  hill. 

Judith  looked  back  at  the  wooded  nook  they 
were  leaving.  "  It  is  such  a  beautiful  world," 
she  said  sadly. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

ENRHYN  lived  in  the  Benedick,  on 
the  west  side  of  Washington  Square 
and  so  near  the  Searses,  across  the  cor- 
ner of  the  square,  that  the  front  win- 
dows commanded  a  view  of  one  another.  He  had 
moved  here  when  he  first  met  Judith,  accepting 
the  name  of  the  house,  so  satirical  in  its  applica- 
tion to  the  abode  of  resolute  bachelors,  as  augury 
of  a  better  fate  for  himself.  It  was  late  when  he 
drew  up  before  the  white  marble  portal  of  Ju- 
dith's house,  but  he  made  an  excuse  of  the  near- 
ness of  his  quarters  and  entered  with  her.  They 
went  upstairs  to  the  library,  and  he  took  a  place 
near  the  window,  where  he  could  watch  for  the 
arrival  of  the  messenger  from  Andrews. 

The  old  mansion  had  a  charm  for  Penrhyn 
which  was  not  altogether  to  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  it  was  associated  with  the  woman  he 
loved.  It  had  been  furnished,  it  is  true,  in  the 
sixth  decade  of  the  past  century,  in  the  height  of 
the  era  of  black  walnut  and  haircloth,  when  Ju- 
dith's father  and  mother  had  begun  life  as  young 
married  folk;  and  the  prevailing  mid-Victorian 

114 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

spirit  had  not  been  changed — at  first,  after  Mrs. 
Sears's  death,  for  sentimental  reasons,  as  Penrhyn 
had  somehow  come  to  understand,  and  afterwards 
for  reasons  of  economy  as  well.  The  general 
effect  was  not  as  ugly,  however,  as  might  have 
been  expected.  The  ill  repute  of  black  walnut  is 
largely  due  to  the  elaborate  tastelessness  of  the 
forms  into  which  it  was  so  often  wrought:  in  it- 
self it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  woods.  The 
furniture  of  the  Sears  mansion  was  in  the  sim- 
plest and  most  substantial  mode  of  the  time,  and 
Judith  had  had  the  good  sense  not  to  offend  its 
somber  dignity  by  mingling  with  it  anything  sug- 
gestive of  the  lighter  and  more  elegant  modern 
modes.  Numerous  old  engravings  and  mezzo- 
tints, together  with  excellent  copies  in  oil  of  Ital- 
ian Masters  fashionable  half  a  century  ago,  lent 
a  very  real  beauty  to  the  walls.  And  old  tapes- 
tries and  rugs,  the  first  expressions  of  Judith's 
good  taste,  harmoniously  intensified  the  effect  of 
color.  An  abundance  of  books,  bound  in  dull 
reds  and  browns,  gave  an  impression  of  intimate 
liveability.  The  dimensions  of  the  rooms  them- 
selves were  ample  testimony  of  the  good  taste 
of  the  beginning  of  the  past  century,  and  the  im- 
pressive classical  moldings  and  old  mahogany  doors 
were  of  a  beauty  that  our  builders  have  never 
since  approached. 

The  two  were  scarcely  seated  when  Mr.  Sears 


THE     CAVE     M  A  N 

came  into  the  room,  already  dressed  for  dinner, 
except  that  his  jacket  hung  loosely  from  one 
shoulder.  He  was  evidently  in  low  spirits;  but  he 
greeted  them  with  his  accustomed  courtesy,  and 
proffered  the  loose  lapel  to  Judith.  "  Your  par- 
don," he  said  to  Penrhyn.  "  My  game  shoulder  1 
Judith  always  helps  me." 

"Blue  imps  again,  sweetheart?"  she  said,  giv- 
ing a  final  feminine  tug  at  his  tie.  "  I'm  off  to 
dress,  but  I'll  be  back  in  a  little  jiffy!  "  As  she 
went  out  she  turned  and  cautioned  Penrhyn  not 
to  be  late  himself. 

When  she  had  gone,  Sears  held  up  a  paper 
which  he  carried  in  his  hand.  "  Do  you  know 
how  this  was  sent  to  me?"  he  asked — "the  list 
of  Wistar's  allies,  their  resources  and  their  year's 
output?" 

"Andrews!"  Penrhyn  exclaimed  in  anger. 
"  The  scoundrel!  The  idiot!  I  told  him  to  send 
it  to  me  I  " 

'  You !  "  said  Sears  in  a  low  voice,  horror  and 
reprobation  spreading  upon  his  face. 

For  a  moment  Penrhyn  was  embarrassed.  In 
the  old  man's  own  house — the  atmosphere  of  gen- 
erations of  cultivation — it  was  not  so  easy  to  disre- 
gard his  dignity.  "  I  never  agreed  to  it,"  he  pro- 
tested. "Andrews  went  ahead  and  did  it."  He 
offered  to  take  the  paper,  nevertheless.  But  Sears 
withheld  it. 

116 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

There  was  a  knock  at  the  door  and  a  middle- 
aged  serving  woman  came  in.  "  A  party  to  see 
you,  sir,"  she  said  to  Sears.  "  Not  very  respect- 
able. A  little  in  the  drink,  sir,  if  you'll  pardon 
me." 

-  *> .. 

"With  red  side  whiskers?"  Penrhyn  asked 
quickly.  "  Pack  him  off  at  once !  " 

As  he  spoke,  however,  those  same  whiskers  ap- 
peared at  the  door,  framing  a  pasty  face  and 
faded  blue  eyes  that  were  swimming  in  alcoholic 
felicity.  "  Not  quite  so  soon,  Penrhyn,"  An- 
drews chipped  in  jauntily.  Seeing  that  Sears  held 
the  paper,  however,  his  manner  changed.  "  Oh, 
my  missive  has  reached  you?"  he  said.  "Then 
I'm  off !  Only  wanted  to  make  sure.  Remember, 
midnight !  Ow  revolver!  "  He  bowed  with  an 
elaborate  courtesy — an  inebriate  reflection  from 
his  environment. 

Penrhyn  strode  toward  the  door  and  caught 
him  by  the  collar.  "  I  told  you  to  cut  out  the 
drink!  "  he  cried;  "  and  I  told  you  to  send  that 
matter  to  me !  " 

Andrews  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  said 
nonchalantly:  "I  was  interrupted." 

"  Interrupted!     What  do  you  mean?  " 

"  Old  Wistar  come  back." 

"What!" 

"He  cut  out  them  slips  with  his  pocketknife; 
but  he  left  the  figures  and  told  me  to  send  'em  to 

117 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

anyone  I  wanted.  This  here  he  added  out  of  his 
head."  Andrews  took  one  corner  of  the  paper, 
and  focusing  his  blissful  eyes  on  it  began  to  read 
Wistar's  note  with  stumbling  care. 

"You  made  out  you  were  doing  it  for  us?" 
Penrhyn  interrupted  angrily. 

"Made  out?  Made  out  nothing!  He  tried 
to  make  me  own  it  was  you  bribed  me.  I  gave 
him  a  steer.  He  don't  know  I  sent  it  to  your  old 
pal  here." 

"  Silence !  "  Sears  exclaimed  in  dignified  anger. 
"  Leave  my  house." 

Neither  of  the  others  heeded  him. 

;'  That's  a  likely  story,"  said  Penrhyn. 

"  Likely  or  not,  it's  true.  Try  him  and  see. 
If  he  knows,  then  you  don't  have  to  pay  me. 
That's  all." 

'  You  could  have  told  him  you  were  doing  it 
on  your  own — for  Irvingdale  Smith — as  you  have 
done  before!  " 

"  It's  lucky  for  you  I  didn't !  You'd  never  V 
seed  this !  And  it's  lucky  for  me !  Where'd  my 
graft  been,  heigh?"  At  this  thought,  Andrews's 
loose  features  became  set  and  his  eyes  focused. 
"  Look  a'  here,  Penrhyn,"  he  said  ominously, 
"  you  want  them  facts,  and  I  want  the  twenty  cen- 
turies. You  got  the  facts,  you  and  your  pardner. 
I  want  the  money.  And  there's  something  more: 
when  Wistar  found  me  crackin'  his  safe  he  gave 

118 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

me  the  sack.  I  lost  my  job  along  o'  you,  and  I 
want  damages.  Three-fifty  a  day,  six  days  a 
week!  See?" 

"  Rubbish !  "  said  Penrhyn  contemptuously. 
"  You  get  what  I  promised.  That's  enough." 

"  Not  on  your  tintype !  I  like  this  here  trust 
o'  yourn,  and  if  Wistar  goes  pals  with  you  I'm 
going  to  put  my  two  thou.  into  it.  Meantime  I 
got  to  live." 

Sears  had  been  speechless,  revolted  and  horror- 
struck.  "  This  is  no  place  for  such  bickering," 
he  at  last  found  voice  to  say.  "  I  shall  not  soil 
my  house  nor  my  hands  with  such  dealings !  " 
The  other  two  were  silent,  and  he  concluded  with 
less  vehemence:  "And  Wistar  may  be  here  any 
moment !  " 

"  He's  comin'  too,  is  he?  "  Andrews  put  in  with 
cool  significance.  ;t  If  you  don't  promise  the  swag 
I'll  stop  him  on  your  doorsteps  and  tell  him  who 
done  him !  That'll  spoil  your  dinner  party !  " 
Both  men  were  silent,  and  Andrews  continued,  his 
voice  becoming  unctuously  sentimental:  "He's 
been  good  to  me!  He  could  'a'  let  me  in  for 
twenty  years  in  stir,  but  instead  o'  that  he  put  me 
to  the  good.  My  two  thousand,  see!  And  my 
salary  1  " 

''  Wistar  knows  that  some  of  us  received  this!  " 
Sears  said  dully.  "  We  can't  explain  that !  " 

Penrhyn  was  thoughtful.  Unless  he  could  find 
119 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

some  way  of  throwing  Wistar  off  the  track,  he 
knew  very  well  that  the  last  hope  was  gone  of  ever 
winning  him  over. 

Andrews  had  been  thinking  too.  "  Old  Wistar 
made  a  little  mistake,"  he  said  with  oily  cunning. 
"  You  jes'  lissen  here !  You  remember — Irving- 
dale  Smith  did  come  to  see  Wistar!  Wistar  don't 
know  that,  but  he  knows  Smith  is  gettin'  cold 
feet,  and  wants  to  give  you  folks  the  skiddoo. 
But  Wistar  won't  have  him — being  bigoted,  and 
not  able  to  forget  bygones.  That's  straight  goods, 
every  word.  Savvy?  All  you'se  got  to  lie  about 
is  that  T  done  the  job  for  Smith  as  usual." 

Penrhyn  nodded.  He  needed  a  scapegoat — 
needed  it  badly.  And  chance  had  given  him  the 
best.  The  chief  thing  now  was  to  get  Andrews 
out  of  the  house  and  away  without  Wistar's 
seeing  him.  The  hall  room  next  the  library 
was  Mr.  Sears's  study,  and  Penrhyn  led  the  man 
into  it,  advising  Mr.  Sears  to  let  him  out  through 
the  hall  as  soon  as  Wistar  was  safely  in  the 
library. 

When  the  two  were  alone,  however,  Sears  said 
firmly:  "You  understand  that  I  wash  my  hands 
of  all  this?  It  is  theft!  It  is  treachery!  " 

"  That's  what  they  call  it  when  you  fail.  When 
you  succeed — and  we're  going  to  succeed — you're 
the  Napoleon  of  Wall  Street !  "  He  reached  for 
the  paper. 

120 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Sears  withheld  it. 

"  Permit  me  to  remind  you,"  Penrhyn  urged, 
"  this  was  sent  for  me.  The  thing  has  been  done. 
I'm  in  for  it.  If  I'm  killed,  I'll  not  be  killed  for 
a  lamb.  With  one  glance  I  can  tell  where  we 
stand."  He  caught  the  paper,  and  took  it  with 
gentle  force.  "  Strong !  "  he  exclaimed,  when  he 
had  glanced  down  the  list.  "  Fight  him  I  There's 
nothing  in  that  for  the  underwriter!  Only  more 
work  for  the  undertaker!"  He  sat  down  in  a 
chair  and  pondered. 

Sears  sat  down  too,  the  image  of  despair,  and 
buried  his  face  in  his  hands. 

In  a  moment  Penrhyn  leaped  to  his  feet.  "  An- 
drews is  right!  If  Wistar  doesn't  know  we've 
got  the  list,  he  hasn't  an  atom  of  proof!  In  five 
minutes  I  can  snow  him  down — snow  him  un- 
der! " 

Mr.  Sears  did  not  raise  his  head.  "  You  have 
ruined  everything,"  he  said.  "  Once  for  all,  I 
refuse  to  be  a  party  to  your  schemes!  " 

"  At  least  you  will  let  me  get  Andrews  out  of 
here  past  Wistar!  You  can't  want  to  compro- 
mise me — and  yourself !  " 

"  Compromise  me,  sir!  I  have  kept  my  hands 
clean.  I  cannot  be  compromised !  "  His  indig- 
nation shaded  into  despair,  and  he  added,  "  All 
dealings  are  at  an  end  between  us." 

Penrhyn's  mood  mounted.  "Wait  and  see!" 
9  121 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

he  exclaimed.  "  This  blunder  has  thrown  the 
whole  game  into  our  hands!  " 

Judith  came  in,  putting  the  last  touches  on  the 
lace  of  her  gown.  "  Stanley!  "  she  cried  in  sur- 
prise. "Here  yet?  You  must  hurry!" 

As  Penrhyn  was  leaving  he  caught  Mr.  Sears's 
eye,  and  then,  with  a  sidelong  tilt  of  his  head, 
glanced  toward  the  study  door. 


122 


j 


CHAPTER   XIV 

UDITH  knew  only  too  well  the  mood 
in  which  she  found  her  father. 

He  had  begun  life  as  a  rich  young 
man  with  family,  cultivation  and  a 
host  of  friends.  If  his  lot  had  been  cast  in  the 
present  generation  he  would  have  been  a  working 
sociologist,  a  reform  politician,  or  a  patron  of  the 
arts.  But  in  the  generation  of  the  Civil  War  the 
uses  of  a  leisure  class  were  little  valued.  It  was 
business  or  nothing.  For  many  years  he  had  been 
able  to  form  companies  and  exploit  his  ideas;  and 
though  he  had  always  ended  in  failure,  he  had,  as 
promoter  and  manager  of  successive  enterprises, 
received  no  small  sums  in  bonuses  and  salary.  But 
he  had  never  undergone  any  real  business  train- 
ing, and  he  had  not  a  sufficiently  strong  sense 
of  the  facts  of  life  to  save  him  from  his  imagina- 
tion. The  outskirts  of  Wall  Street  are  full  of 
such  men,  and  those  of  them  are  happiest  who 
come  to  the  end  of  their  tether  while  they  are 
young  enough  to  learn.  In  his  case,  the  time  when 
his  friends  came  to  distrust  him  arrived  tardily, 

123 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Then,  already  in  middle  life,  ensued  a  period 
when,  in  his  search  for  capital,  he  approached 
distant  acquaintances,  even  strangers.  To  a  man 
of  his  aristocratic  breeding,  the  ordeal  was  pain- 
ful; but  he  never  flinched.  Finally,  however,  the 
time  had  come  when  he  was  limited  to  his  own 
means,  and  risked  the  last  of  it. 

To  Judith  had  fallen  the  duty  of  encouraging 
and  sustaining  him  through  the  later  and  more 
painful  stages  of  his  descent.  What  she  had  suf- 
fered with  him  from  the  rebuffs  of  ill-bred 
strangers  only  the  gentle  feminine  heart  can  know. 
But  from  childhood  she  had  stood  by  him,  and 
she  had  never  found  a  better  means  of  coping 
with  his  despondency  than  her  girlish  heart  had 
taught  her.  So  now  she  put  her  hand  on  his  head, 
caressed  it,  and  bade  him  go  with  her  to  the  big 
chair  in  the  den. 

He  mechanically  obeyed  until  she  had  laid  her 
hand  on  the  door  knob.  Then  he  started,  and  led 
her  back  to  a  black  walnut  chair  by  the  library 
table. 

"  This  ugly  old  chair  isn't  half  so  snug  and 
comfy!"  she  protested.  But  it  was  no  time  to 
oppose  him.  She  sat  on  one  knee,  threw  her  arms 
about  his  shoulders  and  laid  her  soft,  bright  cheek 
against  his  blanching  temples.  "  Is  he  sad  be- 
cause people  are  stupid?"  she  said,  unconsciously 
falling  into  the  language  of  her.  childhood.  "  We 

124 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

shall  forget  them,  and  then  they  will  be  the  losers ! 
We  still  have  us  \  " 

"  Forget!  "  he  lamented.  "  Poverty  never  for- 
gets. When  the  horses  went,  I  promised  that 
should  be  the  last  sacrifice.  But  now — we've 
failed  again,  and  it's  this  house — your  house! 
They  will  foreclose,  and  we  shall  be  evicted  like 
Irish  peasants !  Think  of  it !  This  ugly  old  fur- 
niture— which  we  love — how  hideous  it  will  look 
when  it  is  put  up  here  at  public  auction,  when 
it  is  dumped  out  on  the  sidewalk  for  all  the  world 
to  see!  " 

"But  we  haven't  failed  yet  I  We  can  make 
Mr.  Wistar  see  how  wrong  he  is.  I  feel  that 
we  can!  Then  we  shall  have  new  and  beautiful 
furniture,  the  horses  back — everything!" 

He  shook  his  head.  "Too  late!  It's  all 
spoiled.  At  last  I  am  done  for!  The  world  used 
to  seem  full  of  opportunity.  Everything  turns  out 
the  same.  Hope  and  despair — over  and  over! 
When  I  was  young — when  we  fellows  fresh  from 
college  started  in  Wall  Street  together,  it  was  to 
me  they  looked  to  do  the  great  things.  I  had 
the  ideas.  I  had  the  money.  One  by  one  they 
have  passed  me  by.  Myrick  owns  the  Wana- 
wackson.  Ponter  is  the  Clothiers'  Bank.  Hor- 
ting  is  everything!  When  he  is  abroad  the  comic 
papers  cartoon  him  as  the  Yankee  Peril.  He  is 
received  in  every  court  of  Europe  like  royalty! 

125 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

At  the  club  they  all  try  to  be  just  the  good  old 
chaps  they  always  were.  But  they  are  so  care- 
ful not  to  hurt  my  feelings  —  it  amounts  to  an 
insult!" 

It  was  true,  every  word  of  it,  and  it  fell  upon 
Judith's  heart  like  a  blight.  But  still  she  labored 
with  him.  "You've  always  been  honest!"  she 
urged.  "  That's  more  than  most  of  them  can 
say!" 

He  raised  his  eyes  with  a  harassed  look,  and 
glanced  toward  the  study  door. 

She  took  his  forehead  in  her  palms  and  kissed 
it.  Then  she  attempted  to  kiss  his  mild,  tired 
eyes.  He  shook  his  head,  and  put  her  gently 
away — always  since  childhood  he  had  done  so. 
'  You  will  never  let  me  kiss  your  eyes,"  she  com- 
plained. "And  they  are  such  dear,  tender  eyes! 
I  know  I  could  make  you  happy  if  I  could  kiss 
them  once — only  once!  " 

He  was  silent  a  long  time.  "  I  will  tell  you, 
dearest.  Your  mother  .  .  .  she  used  to  do  that! 
And  she  could  cheer  me  that  way  when  everything 
else  failed.  The  last  time  she  kissed  me  so — do 
you  remember  it? — it  was  the  night  before  May 
was  born — the  last  evening  of  all!  " 

Judith  hid  her  face  on  his  shoulder. 

"  Of  course  you  didn't  know  it,  but  she  was  al- 
ways afraid  you  children  would  come  between  us 
— jealous  of  you,  she  used  to  call  it!  That  is  the 

126 


T  H  E     CAVE     MAN 

way  she  was!  And  that  is  why  I  have  never  let 
you.  ...  It  is  the  last  thing  she  still  owns  upon 
earth!" 

Judith  forced  down  the  catch  in  her  throat  and 
smiled  through  her  tears.  "  No !  Not  the  last !  " 
she  cried.  "  She  still  has  us !  And  we  must  be 
cheerful — as  she  would  make  us,  if  she  were  here  I 
This  venture — I  still  hope! — but  if  it  fails — " 
She  paused,  reflecting.  The  idea  of  her  working 
had  always  filled  her  father  with  an  old-fashioned 
horror,  but  it  was  all  the  more  necessary  that  he 
should  become  accustomed  to  it.  "If  it  fails," 
she  concluded,  plucking  up  resolution,  "  you  know, 
they  want  me  at  the  Home  Stores.  I  can  still 
work!" 

He  rose  from  the  chair  in  agitation.  "  Sell- 
ing soups  and  poultices  from  the  kitchen!  Serv- 
ing your  old  friends — my  old  friends — with  after- 
noon tea !  For  five  generations  our  family  has 
been — what  it  has  been!  There  is  little  enough 
left  in  America  of  the  old,  the  true  gentility!  But 
we  have  done  our  best  to  stand  for  our  traditions ! 
The  Home  Stores!  What  do  you  know  of  that 
sort  of  thing?  They  only  want  you  for  your 
name  to  serve  as  a  vulgar  advertisement !  I  can't 
stand  it — to  have  it  said  that  I  brought  our  ideals 
to  penury!  " 

It  was  the  side  of  her  father's  nature  with  which 
she  had  least  sympathy.  "Ideals,  Daddy!"  she 

127 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

cried.  "  My  ideals  are  of  service  and  usefulness! 
Rich  or  poor,  I  believe  in  work!  Work  for  the 
world,  and,  if  you  can't  do  that,  all  the  more  work 
for  your  own  self-respect!  The  only  disgrace  I 
feel  is  poverty — genteel  poverty  in  idleness !  It 
is  so  easy  to  do  what  one  must — with  a  wee  bit 
of  sense  and  good  humor!  "  She  took  him  by 
the  arm  and  forced  him  gently  back  into  the 
chair.  "Oh,  Daddy!  If  you  could  ever  un- 
derstand me !  Mother — she  would  have  under- 
stood! And  she  would  have  let  me  bring  you 
peace!  "  Judith  leaned  over  to  kiss  his  eyes;  but 
he  bowed  his  head,  so  she  kissed  the  brows  above 
them. 

"  With  you  a  shopgirl — a  waitress — and  I  a 
homeless  bankrupt — I  can't  sink  down  to  the 
grave  like  that !  " 

There  was  something  ominous  to  Judith  in  the 
set,  tense  quiet  of  his  voice.  With  a  quick,  reso- 
lute movement  she  opened  the  drawer  of  the  table 
beside  her  and  took  out  his  revolver.  "  Father! 
I  want  you  to  promise  me " 

"  Promise  what?  "  he  asked. 

She  paused.  There  are  certain  words  that  will 
not  be  spoken,  though  all  her  instincts  told  her 
that  she  must  deal  with  him  roundly.  "  Why  do 
you  keep  this?  "  she  asked.  "A  burglar  couldn't 
get  in  here!  There's  much  more  danger  in  my 
room.  I'm  going  to  take  it  there." 

128 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  met  her  eyes  with  forbidding  pride.  "  I 
can  still  do  the  family  burglar  hunting,"  he  said, 
and  taking  the  revolver  he  put  it  back  in  the 
drawer.  "  Penrhyn,"  he  reassured  her,  "  has  not 
yet  lost  hope.  He  is  able  and  full  of  resources." 
But  there  was  something  in  the  way  he  spoke  that 
intensified  Judith's  anxiety. 

Boyser  knocked  and,  entering,  announced  Wis- 
tar. 

Sears  started.  "  I  have  a  few  things  to  do," 
he  said,  and  went  into  the  study. 

When  Wistar  came  in  Judith  started  involun- 
tarily, his  look  was  so  gloomy  and  perplexed. 
She  offered  her  hand,  and  he  hesitated  before  he 
took  it. 

"  May  I  speak  for  a  moment  to  your  father?  " 
he  said. 

"  Surely!  "  she  answered.  But  when  she  went 
to  the  study  door  she  found  to  her  surprise 
that  it  was  locked.  She  shook  the  knob  gently 
and  paused.  "  He  said  he  had  some  things  to 
attend  to.  Of  course  he'll  be  out  in  a  moment!  " 
As  she  spoke,  however,  she  drew  open  the  table 
drawer,  and  made  sure  that  the  revolver  was 
there. 

"  How  do  you  interpret  the  laws  of  hospital- 
ity? "  Wistar  demanded. 

"  Such  a  serious  question !  What  does  it 
mean?  " 

129 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  If  a  man  has  reason  to  think  another  his 
enemy,  is  he  right  to  become  his  guest?  " 

"  I  try  to  believe  in  people  until  I  know  they 
are  bad!  Surely — why  do  you  ask?" 

"  Because  I  love  you !  "  He  spoke  with  a  ve- 
hemence that  shook  his  frame,  though  his  voice 
was  low  and,  except  for  the  deep  vibrance  of  emo- 
tion, under  full  control.  "  I  want  to  help  you. 
This  war  they  are  forcing  me  into — God  knows 
I  am  trying  to  avoid  it!  But  they  are  making 
that  impossible !  " 

The  hall  door  opened,  and  May  entered  with 
Billy.  "What  is  Andrews  doing  here?"  she 
asked.  "  As  he  passed  us  on  the  stairs  his  breath 
was  like  a  searchlight!  " 

"Andrews!  "  Wistar  cried  out.     "  Here!  " 

No  one  answered,  and  the  talk  turned  with  a 
somewhat  enforced  lightness  upon  the  young 
people.  By  and  by  Penrhyn  came  in,  and  finding 
that  Mr.  Sears  was  in  the  study,  went  in,  the  door 
being  now  unlocked.  Presently  the  two  came  out 
together. 

"  Mr.  Sears,"  Wistar  demanded,  "  may  I  have 
a  moment's  talk  with  you?  "  The  discovery  that 
Andrews  had  been  there  before  him  had  removed 
his  last  doubt.  To  accept  Sears's  hospitality 
seemed  now  quite  impossible,  and  he  resolved  to 
end  the  negotiation  by  confronting  him  with  the 
full  evidence  of  his  guilt. 

130 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  Business — before  dinner?  "  Penrhyn  asked, 
somewhat  in  the  manner  in  which  a  governess  cries 
"  manners  "  to  naughty  children. 

"If  you  please!" 

"  If  it's  going  to  be  unpleasant,"  Judith  put 
in,  "mayn't  we  wait?  At  least  we  can  dine  as 
friends."  Wistar  hesitated.  Pie  was  in  a  delicate 
position,  but  he  felt  that  it  would  be  kinder  to 
do  what  he  had  to  do  without  risk  of  exposing 
the  old  man  to  those  he  loved.  "  If  you  command 
it !  "  he  said  at  last. 

"  I  do!  "  Judith  answered  firmly. 

Boyser  announced  that  dinner  was  served. 

"  If  your  scruples  will  permit,"  Judith  said 
lightly. 

"  It  is  on  your  scruples  I  am  acting!  "  he  an- 
swered. Then  he  added,  "  Let  us  eat,  drink  and 
be  merry!  " 

"  Dear  me !  "  she  exclaimed,  as  she  went  out 
with  him,  "you  frighten  me  about  to-morrow!  " 

Sears  motioned  Penrhyn  to  follow. 

Penrhyn  forcibly  detained  him.  "  I  have  been 
doing  some  tall  thinking,"  he  said,  "  and  I've  de- 
cided to  tell  you  something  that  only  a  crisis  like 
the  present  could  induce  me  to  tell  anybody. 
You  think  this  motor  trust  is  a  big  thing.  It  is 
only  a  wheel  within  a  wheel!  I  must  speak 
quickly:  mark  every  word.  You  remember  that 
rumor  of  an  attempt  to  monopolize  crude  rubber? 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

I'm  in  with  the  people  who  are  making  it.  It  is 
only  as  their  agent  that  I  am  dealing  with  you 
and  Wistar.  For  two  years  we've  had  a  man  in 
South  America  getting  concessions — leading  revo- 
lutions where  he  can't  buy  them,  and  financing  the 
government  against  insurgents  where  he  can.  Al- 
ready we  hold  grants  that  cover  the  richest  rub- 
ber country  on  this  continent.  To-day  we  are  at 
work  in  Belgium  for  control  of  the  Congo,  and 
our  agents  report  the  best  of  progress.  Before 
the  year  is  over  we  shall  control  three-quarters  of 
the  rubber  supply  of  the  world." 

Sears  was  still  under  sway  of  his  repugnance 
to  what  Penrhyn  had  done.  "  All  that  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  me,"  he  said. 

"  Nothing  to  do  with  you  ?  As  long  as  every 
Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  can  make  a  motor  car  and 
sell  it,  what  sort  of  a  monopoly  do  you  expect 
to  gain?  " 

"  No  monopoly,  but  a  trust  may  be  profitable 
without  it." 

"  Profitable !  Perhaps — if  dollars  in  driblets 
mean  profit.  What  we  want  is  the  wealth  that 
is  power.  Rubber  means  tires,  and  no  tires  no 
bubble  wagons!  Where's  your  imagination? 
Working  together,  we  can  make  old  John  D. 
look  like  thirty  cents." 

The  old  man's  eyes  dilated. 

"Ah,  now  your  imagination  is  getting  busy!  " 
132 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Imagination  was,  in  fact,  Sears's  long  suit,  and, 
as  Penrhyn  had  foreseen,  it  was  working,  and 
working  overtime. 

"  But  the  law?  "  Sears  objected. 

"  What  has  our  fool  law  to  do  with  the  Am- 
azon, the  Orinoco  and  the  Congo?  A  corpora- 
tion formed  in  London  can  give  your  New  Jersey 
trumperies  cards  and  spades." 

The  old  man  was  silent,  but  his  eyes  continued 
to  dilate. 

"  Come,  they'll  miss  us  downstairs,"  said  Pen- 
rhyn, and  he  led  the  way. 


133 


I 


CHAPTER    XV 

N  spite  of  the  excess  of  men  in  the 
party,  May  insisted  on  sitting  between 
Judith  and  Billy,  and  she  so  managed 
that  Wistar  sat  on  Judith's  other  side. 
Penrhyn  welcomed  the  arrangement,  for  it 
brought  him  next  Sears  with  Billy  beyond,  and  he 
took  the  occasion  to  allude  lightly  to  the  fact 
that  the  two  young  people  were  members  of  fac- 
tions at  deadly  enmity — called  them  Romeo  and 
Juliet,  and  said  he  saw  their  finish  in  a  tomb.  It 
was  only  a  step  from  this  to  banter  about  trusts 
and  trust-busting;  and  presently  the  discussion  be- 
came serious,  though  not  too  concrete  or  personal 
.  for  table  talk.  Wistar  observed,  none  the  less, 
that  Billy  was  developing  a  new  hospitality  toward 
the  ideas  of  the  promoters.  When  his  young 
cousin  asked  him  for  his  opinions,  he  smiled 
gravely  and  referred  him  to  a  scholastic  essay  on 
The  Case  Against  the  Trusts. 

Wistar  observed  also  that  several  times  during 
the  dinner  Penrhyn  engaged  Mr.  Sears  in  whis- 
pered conversation,  and  that  what  he  said  brought 

134 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

a  look  of  distress.  At  the  sight  of  it  he  dreaded, 
as  he  had  never  dreaded  anything  before,  the  time 
when  he  should  be  forced  to  confront  the  old  man 
with  the  evidence  of  so  ignoble  a  crime. 

When  Judith  rose  to  leave,  at  the  advent  of 
coffee  and  cigars,  May  was  in  a  flood  of  garrulous 
plans  for  her  wedding — though  she  was  not  to 
be  married  until  she  was  out  of  school,  almost  two 
years  hence.  Judith  was  to  be  maid  of  honor, 
she  was  saying,  and  Wistar,  Billy's  best  man. 

At  the  door  Judith  turned  back.  "  Maya !  " 
she  cried,  laughing. 

May  paused  for  a  moment,  looked  up,  quite 
mystified. 

"  Engagements  only  last  till  tobacco  do  us 
part!" 

May's  mystification  gave  way  to  a  blush,  which 
was  greeted  with  sympathetic  laughter.  As  she 
followed  Judith  to  the  drawing  room,  Billy  went 
with  her  to  the  door,  and  Wistar  went  with  him, 
glad  of  any  pleasantry  that  would  defer  the  un- 
welcome crisis. 

"  And  now,"  said  Penrhyn,  when  he  and  Sears 
were  alone,  "  now  for  a  hell  of  a  long  put !  "  No 
one  was  better  aware  than  himself  that  he  had 
foozled  what  he  intended  as  a  drive  upon  the 
green. 

"  It  is  no  use,"  Sears  lamented.  "  You  have 
spoiled  everything." 

135 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  You  know  the  alternative :  unless  I  hole  out 
now — we're  two  down  and  one  to  play." 

"  Our  game,  as  you  call  it,  is  already  up.  After 
what  you  have  done  to-day  no  man  of  honor 
could  go  with  you." 

"  I  tell  you  I  never  asked  him  to — to  do  what 
he  did.  And  you  don't  have  to  go  with  me.  All 
you  have  to  do  is  to  sit  tight!  Everything  is 
playing  into  our  hands.  Billy  is  engaged  to  May — 
and  I've  just  discovered  that  Wistar  is  over  heels 
with  Judith!  Let  him  make  a  row,  charge  us 
with  treason,  stratagems  and  spoils !  The  angrier, 
the  more  violent  he  is,  the  more  he  will  disgust 
Onderdonk  and  humiliate  himself!  I  will  make 
him  apologize  abjectly  for  every  word  against  us. 
And  in  the  end  I  will  force  him  to  eat  out  of  our 
hands!  Think,  man,  think  of  the  stake!  " 

Sears  still  shook  his  head,  but  his  eyes,  as  Pen- 
rhyn  was  quick  to  detect,  were  opened  wide,  as  if 
to  a  vision. 

When  Wistar  and  Billy  returned,  Penrhyn  was 
sipping  his  coffee,  his  elbows  upon  the  table. 
''  Well,  fellows,"  he  said  with  familiar  good 
nature,  "  this  afternoon  as  it  happened,  while  we 
were  proposing  one  alliance  with  Mr.  Sears,  On- 
derdonk was  obliged  to  be  absent — concluding 
another  and,  it  must  be  confessed,  more  important 
alliance !  Now  we  should  like  to  ask  what  he 
thinks  of  this  minor  proposition." 

136 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  I  must  say  I'm  inclined  to  change  my  mind," 
Billy  said,  somewhat  sheepishly.  "  This  doesn't 
seem  like  the  old-fashioned  octopus — not  the  bill- 
poster kind  Barnum  used  to  make !  It  looks  like 
velvet,  but  it  wears  better." 

"  One  minute!  "  interrupted  Wistar.  "  I  have 
to  discuss  with  the  promoters  one  or  two  facts  of 
a  private  nature."  He  asked  Onderdonk  if  he 
would  mind  leaving  them  for  a  moment. 

"  What  concerns  the  rest  of  us,"  Penrhyn 
quickly  interposed,  "  concerns  Onderdonk!  " 

"  In  such  a  matter,"  Mr.  Sears  said,  "  I  should 
be  glad  to  trust  Mr.  Wistar's  judgment." 

"  Of  course  I  shan't  stay!  "  said  Billy. 

Wistar  followed  him  to  the  drawing-room  door, 
his  hand  on  his  cousin's  shoulder,  with  friendly 
words  of  apology. 

The  two  were  no  sooner  out  of  the  room  than 
Penrhyn  turned  sharply  upon  Sears.  "  You  have 
thrown  away  the  chance  I've  been  playing  for  all 
evening!  Unless  we  make  a  monkey  of  Wistar 
before  Billy,  what's  the  use  of  making  him  a 
monkey?  " 

"  I  couldn't  face  him,"  Sears  answered  sadly. 
"  My  own  son,  almost !  " 

When  Wistar  returned  he   remained  standing 

by  the  door.     "  As  you  know,"  he  said,  his  voice 

quiet  but  intense,  "  I  stayed  beneath  this  roof  only 

to  avoid  making  a  scene.     I  have  questions  to  ask 

10  137 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

so  ugly  I  propose  to  adjourn  to  neutral  ground — 
a  club,  or,  better,  a  hotel!  " 

Penrhyn  glanced  at  Sears.  "  This,  I  take  it,  is 
purely  a  business  dinner  as  if  we  were  at  a  hotel?  " 

Wistar  was  surprised  at  Penrhyn's  self-posses- 
sion, for  by  this  time  he  must  have  learned  of  the 
fate  of  Andrews's  attempt.  He  was  even  more 
surprised  to  find  that  Sears  so  easily  acquiesced. 
Was  it  possible,  after  all,  that  there  was  a  mistake 
somewhere?  "  I  have  very  strong  evidence,"  he 
said,  "  that  the  promoters  of  your  combination 
have  resorted  to  unfair  means — bribery  of  one  of 
my  men,  and  theft  of  my  papers." 

Penrhyn  lifted  his  eyebrows.  "  That  is  an  ugly 
charge.  You  have  full  proof  of  it?  " 

"  If  I  had  I  shouldn't  be  here." 

Penrhyn  became  grave  and  at  the  same  time 
vehement.  "  Am  I  to  understand  that  you  have 
brought  this  charge  on  a  mere  suspicion?" 

"I  make  no  charge.  I  state  facts!  I  found 
Andrews  breaking  my  safe  to  steal  information 
vital  to  you  in  the  fight  with  which  you  threaten 
me." 

"  And  you  conclude  that  we  bribed  him  to  do 
it?" 

"I  am  forced  to  that  conclusion!" 

Penrhyn  rose  to  his  feet,  still  grave,  almost 
magisterial,  but  with  a  ring  of  righteous  contempt 
in  his  voice.  "  You  have  broken  my  old  friend's 

138 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

bread,  and  eaten  his  salt,  and  you  use  the  occa- 
sion to  urge  against  him — or  is  it  against  his 
guest? — the  most  shameful  charge,  utterly  with- 
out evidence!  Which  of  us  do  you  suspect?  " 

Wistar  flushed  at  the  injustice  of  the  accusation, 
but  that  was  a  minor  matter.  He  took  the  card 
from  his  pocket,  and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Sears.  "  As 
far  as  I  can  judge  from  what  remains  of  the 
name,  this  is  your  card.  And  look  at  the  back 
of  it." 

Penrhyn's  face  fell.  A  cog  had  slipped  in  the 
mechanism  of  his  plan — here  was  an  eventuality 
which  in  the  rush  of  events  he  had  not  foreseen  as 
possible.  Wistar  noted  the  change,  and  a  sardonic 
gleam  came  into  his  eyes.  But  in  a  moment  the 
man  took  courage,  picked  up  the  card  and  exam- 
ined it  with  an  air  of  thoughtful  impartiality. 
Then  his  face  beamed.  "  You  are  as  wrong  in 
your  facts,"  he  exclaimed  venomously,  "  as  you  are 
caddish  and  treacherous  in  acting  on  them."  He 
rose  as  he  spoke  and  quickly  left  the  room. 

Wistar's  glance  followed  him  with  amazement 
and  swelling  anger;  and  when  Penrhyn  returned 
he  met  him  at  the  door.  But  Penrhyn  passed  him 
and  coolly  resumed  his  seat  at  the  far  side  of  the 
table,  facing  Wistar,  where  he  stood. 

'  When  I  got  here,"  Wistar  said  calmly,  but 
with  intense  latent  passion,  "  Andrews  was  clos- 
eted with  Mr.  Sears." 

139 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Sears  was  speechless.  Penrhyn  was  scarcely  less 
taken  aback.  Another  cog  had  slipped — this  time 
a  dangerous  one.  His  confidence  was  on  the  verge 
of  collapse. 

Wistar  noted  their  consternation.  But  his 
more  -generous  regard  for  the  old  man  had  now 
melted  in  rage  at  the  young  man's  insolence.  He 
strode  forward  to  the  table  and  confronted  Pen- 
rhyn. "  Tell  me  now,"  he  cried,  "  who  is  the 
traitor  and  the  cad !  " 

As  he  spoke  he  heard  the  door  open  behind 
him,  but  his  blood  was  boiling  in  his  temples,  and 
he  heeded  nothing  but  the  man  into  whose  eyes 
he  was  glaring. 

Penrhyn  meanwhile  had  again  gained  command 
of  himself,  and  indeed  a  renewal  of  confidence. 
His  manner  became  softer  and  more  diplomatic. 
"  I  repeat,"  he  said,  "  that  you  have  insulted 
your  host." 

The  veins  in  Wistar's  temples  began  to  swell, 
and  the  color  of  blood  suffused  his  vision.  "  It 
is  I  who  have  been  insulted,"  he  said,  his  low  voice 
swelling  until  it  filled  the  room.  "  The  promoter 
of  this  combination  came  to  my  office  as  my  friend, 
to  ask  a  service — and  used  the  occasion  to  commit 
bribery  and  theft!  He  has  plotted  with  the  thief 
even  while  I  was  under  his  roof.  No  deeper  in- 
sult is  possible,  no  baser  breach  of  hospitality !  " 

Penrhyn  leaped  to  his  feet.  "  Silence,  you 
140 


blackguard !  "  he  exclaimed.     "  Look  who  is  pres- 
ent! " 

Wistar  turned  and  saw  Judith  standing  on  the 
threshold,  white  and  quivering.  For  a  moment  he 
was  dumfounded.  Then  he  said :  "  May  I  beg 
you  to  leave  us?"  He  added  with  an  outburst 
of  abhorrence :  "  The  blackguard  is  the  man  who 
brought  you  to  witness  such  a  scene!  " 

"  I  will  stay,"  she  said  firmly.  "  What  does, 
it  all  mean?  "  She  went  to  her  father  where  he 
was  still  sitting  at  the  foot  of  the  table,  and  put 
her  palms  on  the  white,  silken  hair  of  his  tem- 
ples. She  was  dignified  and  proudly  calm;  and, 
as  Wistar  recognized  with  a  pang  of  admira- 
tion that  even  his  rage  could  not  down,  she 
was  superbly  beautiful,  and  supremely  appealing. 
For  beneath  her  exterior  of  self-control  she  was 
swayed  by  the  primal  instinct  of  protecting 
love. 

Penrhyn  did  not  fail  to  note  his  advantage. 
"Well?"  he  said. 

Controlling  himself,  Wistar  showed  Judith  the 
card,  and  told  how  he  had  come  by  it. 

"  It  was  on  account  of  that,"  Penrhyn  cut  in, 
"  that  I  asked  you  in  here.  When  you  went  out 
of  the  office,  as  I  remember,  you  left  your  hand 
bag  on  the  desk.  Your  card  was  in  it?  " 

Judith  inclined  her  head. 

"  And  what  does  that  explain?  "  Wistar  asked. 
141 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  As  I  remember — when  Miss  Sears  wrote  her 
note  this  afternoon,  there  was  no  paper  in  the 
desk." 

"  There  was  none.  But  what  has  that  to  do 
with  Mr.  Sears's  card?" 

"  I  don't  admit  that  it  is  Mr.  Sears's  card.  But 
suppose  it  is.  Girls  usually  carry  their  men  folks' 
pasteboards.  It's  a  useful  way  they  have  of  mak- 
ing our  calls  for  us." 

Wistar  saw  the  force  of  the  explanation,  and 
also  its  weakness.  '  Then  who  am  I  to  suppose 
gave  the  bribe?  You  yourself  were  alone  with 
Andrews — and  you  show  a  most  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  circumstances !  " 

"  Miss  Sears  will  remember,"  Penrhyn  said, 
calmly  turning  to  Judith,  "  that  on  a  certain  sen- 
timental occasion  in  the  paint  room  she  missed  her 
handkerchief,  and  sent  me  for  her  bag."  Then 
he  faced  Wistar.  "  I  am  not  insensible  of  your 
insult;  but  we  will  proceed  to  matters  that  are 
important." 

"  I  beg  that  you  will.  You  have  still  to  explain 
who  bribed  Andrews !  " 

"  That  does  not  concern  Mr.  Sears,"  Penrhyn 
retorted  boldly.  "  But  if  I  may  be  allowed  a  sug- 
gestion, we  were  not  your  only  visitors.  You  re- 
member your  friend,  Smith?  He  is  in  town,  you 
say,  and  has  business  with  you?  " 

Wistar  nodded  to  both  questions. 
142 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  This  matter  that  Andrews  was  stealing — has 
Smith  any  motives  for  desiring  it?  " 

u  The  same  motives  that  you  have,"  Wistar 
acknowledged.  "  But  there  is  not  the  same  evi- 
dence against  him." 

"  Still,  he  has  already  had  dealings  with  An- 
drews of  precisely  the  same  nature." 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  so." 

"  His  full  name  is " 

"  Irvingdale  Smith." 

"  And  if  we  argue  that  this  is  his  card?  " 

Wistar  looked  at  the  card.  "  I  couldn't  dis- 
prove it,  and  I  don't  need  to !  "  Then  he  paused. 
Strong  as  was  the  evidence  that  he  had  blundered, 
he  would  gladly  have  rested  under  the  weight  of 
it  rather  than  continue  in  his  defense.  But  the 
matter  at  stake  was  greater  than  any  personal  con- 
sideration. "  All  that,"  he  said  slowly,  "  does 
not  explain  why,  when  I  arrived  here  this  even- 
ing, Andrews  was  under  this  roof." 

There  was  an  ominous  pause,  in  which  Judith 
let  her  hands  fall  from  her  father's  temples,  and 
looked  into  Penrhyn's  face  with  sudden  anxiety. 

"  Neither  can  /  explain  it,"  Penrhyn  said,  with 
his  air  of  frankness.  "  All  I  know  is  what  Mr. 
Sears  tells  me.  When  he  came  home  this  after- 
noon there  was  a  pile  of  letters  on  the  hall  table 
— the  accumulated  mail  of  the  day;  and  when  he 
had  dressed  he  went  to  his  den  to  attend  to  them. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Before  he  had  opened  them  Andrews  called,  and 
said  that  he  had  sent  a  message  by  mistake.  He 
identified  it  as  his  own  by  the  handwriting  of  the 
address.  Mind,  I  only  state  the  facts.  I  can't 
understand  how  Andrews  could  have  made  such 
a  blunder."  Penrhyn  had  spoken  in  the  manner 
of  a  judge  who  impartially  weighs  evidence.  But 
he  concluded  with  incisive  sarcasm :  "  Can  you 
understand?  " 

"  I  told  him  to  send  it  to  whoever  he  wished, 
and  promised  not  to  look  at  the  address." 

"  You  will  pardon  me  if  I  say  that  that  is  the 
most  extraordinary  proceeding — to  me  incompre- 
hensible. No  doubt  you  have  your  reasons.  But 
might  not  Andrews  have  mistrusted  you,  and  sent 
the  letter  to  a  false  address,  hoping  to  recover 
it — as  he  did  recover  it?  If  you  ask  me,  I  say 
that  at  this  moment  it  is  in  the  hands  of  Irving- 
dale  Smith.  What  do  you  think?  " 

Wistar  looked  to  Mr.  Sears.  The  old  man's 
face  was  tense  and  set,  but  void  of  any  decipher- 
able expression.  Wistar  was  dazed,  almost  giddy; 
but  little  by  little  the  conviction  forced  itself  upon 
him  that  he  had  blundered,  blundered  egregiously. 
"  What  you  say  is  possible,"  he  admitted.  "  No 
doubt  I  am  wrong." 

Penrhyn's  voice  changed  to  one  of  regret,  even 
sorrow.  "  You  caught  at  the  first  suspicion  to  in- 
sult my  old  colleague — your  host!"  Wistar  rc- 

144 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

mained  humbly  silent,  and  Penrhyn  turned  to  Ju- 
dith. "  Mr.  Wistar  has  questioned  my  conduct 
in  inflicting  this  painful  scene  upon  you.  I  feel 
that  he  was  right.  I  also,  perhaps,  have  played 
the  blackguard.  But  in  my  first  horror  at  what 
he  charged,  I  felt  that  the  matter  had  to  be  dis- 
proved once  for  all,  and  to  that  purpose  your  evi- 
dence was  essential.  Yet  I  now  see  that,  knowing 
you  as  I  do,  and  your  father,  I  should  have  ig- 
nored the  charge." 

Wistar  was  still  looking  at  Sears.  "  What  can 
I  say,  sir,"  he  pleaded,  "  what  can  I  ever  do " 

Sears  shook  his  head. 

Wistar  turned  to  Judith.  "  Can  you  ever  for- 
give me?  I  beg — I  beg " 

"  I  have  nothing  to  forgive  you,"  Judith  an- 
swered in  a  dry  voice. 

"  Then  you  understand — "  With  the  hope  of 
her  forgiveness  his  voice  choked. 

"  I  understand  this — that  it  is  / — who  am  to 
blame,  that  it  is  /  who  have  to  beg  your  pardon!  " 

She  seemed  about  to  say  more,  but  paused  and 
left  the  room. 

Wistar  bowed  his  head,  crushed  as  he  was  be- 
wildered. 


145 


w 


CHAPTER    XVI 

HEN  Judith  had  gone  Sears  broke  his 
long  silence.  "  I  understand  your  mo- 
tives," he  said  to  Wistar,  "  and  I 
thank  you  for  coming  to  me  openly, 
at  once."  He  seemed  about  to  say  more,  but  Pen- 
rhyn  interrupted  him. 

"  If  Mr.  Wistar  is  willing  to  get  down  to  busi- 
ness," he  said,  "  we  will  call  Onderdonk." 

"  I  thank  you,  sir!  "  Wistar  exclaimed  to  Sears. 
Then  he  added:  "  I  will  get  Onderdonk." 

When  he  was  gone,  Sears  turned  upon  Pen- 
rhyn.  "You  have  been  intolerable!"  he  ex- 
claimed. "  I  had  resolved  to  tell  him  everything 
as  it  happened,  as  far  as  it  concerned  me.  But 
you  prevented — put  a  lie  in  my  mouth,  and 
gagged  me !  " 

"  Lucky  I  did !  That  was  the  narrowest  squeak 
I  ever  had,  or  wish  to  have !  Twice  I  thought 
he  had  us!  How  the  devil  did  he  get  wind  of 
Andrews  here?  " 

Boyser  came  in  with  a  tray  of  decanters,  si- 
phons and  glasses. 

146 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"Which  will  you  have?"  Penrhyn  broke  off, 
indicating  the  Scotch  and  the  rye,  "  Blond  or 
Brunette?"  The  old  man  shook  his  head,  and 
Penrhyn  drew  a  long  glass  of  Scotch,  listening 
in  delight  to  the  clink  of  the  huge  lump  of  ice 
as  it  swirled  in  the  gaseous  maelstrom. 

When  Wistar  and  Onderdonk  came  back  they 
proposed  that,  as  it  was  already  late,  the  party 
had  best  meet  again  on  Monday.  Penrhyn  very 
reasonably  suggested,  however,  that  they  ought 
to  outline  the  proposition  to  Billy  so  that  he  could 
consider  it  in  the  meantime.  The  combination 
was  to  be  strictly  legal,  he  said — both  he  and  Mr. 
Sears  pledged  themselves  to  that.  Wistar  was  to 
be  chief  stockholder  and  chairman  of  the  execu- 
tive committee — a  position  which  would  give  him 
the  practical  management  of  the  whole.  As 
long  as  he  wished  they  would  use  all  their  in- 
fluence to  keep  him  in  power.  Penrhyn's  man- 
ner was  now  that  of  easy  and  confiding  friendship. 
"  In  short,"  he  concluded  to  Wistar,  "  the  com- 
bination will  be  you !  —  as  honest  as  you  are 
honest." 

"  The  case  is  not  quite  as  simple  as  that,"  Wis- 
tar said  to  Billy.  "  You  remember  Minot's  trans- 
mission gear  I  told  you  about?  This  afternoon  I 
agreed  to  form  a  company  for  him  and  put  him 
at  the  head.  He  is  as  much  against  the  trusts 
as  I,  and  I  doubt  if  he  will  come  in.  If  he  does, 

147 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

he  will  insist  on  having  a  place  on  the  executive 
committee." 

"  You  don't  expect  to  have  all  your  friends,  and 
only  your  friends?"  Penrhyn  objected. 

"  Precisely !  And  that  is  why  I  am  telling  Billy 
that  the  case  is  more  difficult  than  you  say.  I 
know  Minot,  and  I  know  the  value  of  that  in- 
vention of  his.  It  will  make  him  one  of  the 
strongest  men  in  the  industry,  and  he  is  well  aware 
of  the  fact.  If  he  came  in,  I  doubt  if  he  would 
consent  to  be  a  mere  executive.  He  would  prob- 
ably want  the  job  you  offer  me."  Wistar  smiled, 
but  with  an  earnestness  that  made  what  he  said 
more  impressive.  "  I  speak  of  this  only  to  show 
the  kind  of  problem  that  is  always  confronting 
a  corporation." 

Bidding  Mr.  Sears  good  night,  he  went  out, 
and  Billy  followed.  At  the  drawing-room  door 
he  hesitated,  but  he  passed  on  into  the  street  with- 
out bidding  Judith  good-by. 

When  he  had  gone  Sears  dropped  his  head  in 
his  hands,  again  a  prey  to  despair.  "  We  have 
lost  him,"  he  said. 

"  Not  yet!  "  said  Penrhyn.  "  I  have  one  more 
crack  at  him  Monday !'" 

"  Are  you  willing  to  take  in  Minot?  " 

"  Not  in  a  thousand  years !  Wistar  and  Billy 
will  be  hard  enough  to  manage.  With  a  majority 
of  trust-busters  on  that  committee,  where  should 

148 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

we  be  when  it  came  to  joining  hands  with  the  rub- 
ber people?  Cheer  up,  man!  You  look  as  if  you 
had  lost  your  last  dollar!  " 

"  I  have  lied — lied  to  my  guest — and  to  my 
daughter!  " 

"  A  mere  matter  of  business !  One  stroke  more, 
and  we've  pulled  off  the  biggest  combination  in 
the  history  of  Wall  Street!  " 

"  But  that  stroke!  He  is  too  clear-headed,  too 
resolute." 

"Nonsense!  Don't  you  see?  He's  in  love 
with  Judith,  and  he  has  insulted  you!  He's  a 
ringed  bull.  We  can  lead  him  where  we  want  by 
the  nose!  And  once  we've  got  him  inside — we 
have  him  where  we  want  him." 

Sears  turned  away  in  disgust.  "  If  you  could 
do  what  you  say,  I  should  refuse  to  profit  by  such 
baseness!  " 

Penrhyn's  tone  became  suddenly  persuasive. 
"  Think  what's  at  stake !  This  afternoon  we  were 
in  danger  of  that  foreign  combination.  Win  over 
Wistar,  and  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  make  the 
American  automobile  the  best  in  the  world,  to 
force  it  upon  the  markets  of  France  and  Italy 
themselves,  to  make  our  combination  one  of  the 
bulwarks  of  national  prosperity.  That  is  your 
dream!  Together  we  shall  realize  it.  Wistar 
has  a  soul  too  small  for  ideas  like  that!  " 

Sears  was  silent. 

149 


THE     CAVE     M-AN 

Penrhyn  looked  at  his  watch.  It  was  almost 
midnight,  and  he  remembered  his  appointment 
with  Andrews.  "  I  must  be  off !  "  he  said.  At 
the  door  he  turned.  "  From  to-night  Judith  is 
rich  again,  and  you  take  your  proper  place  in  the 
world  of  finance !  " 


150 


F 


CHAPTER    XVII 

ROM  girlhood  the  white  hair  and  in- 
creasing dependence  of  age  had  ap- 
pealed to  Judith's  tenderest  reverence, 
even  though  the  object  of  it  was  a 
beggar  on  the  street.  And  now  the  affections 
which  many  women  pour  into  the  channels  of 
wifehood  and  motherhood  she  lavished  upon  her 
aging  father.  There  was  nothing,  she  felt,  which 
he  must  resent  as  deeply  as  this  insult  to  what  he 
would  have  called  his  honor  as  a  gentleman.  That 
Wistar  stood  ready  to  thwart  the  last  ambition 
of  his  life  she  must,  in  the  end,  have  forgiven; 
but  that  he  should  preface  his  attack  by  so  crude 
and  gross  an  affront  was  not  to  be  endured — least 
of  all  from  a  man  who  professed  ardent  and  faith- 
ful love. 

Her  own  pride,  she  felt,  was  even  more  deeply 
concerned.  As  she  reviewed  their  conversation 
of  the  afternoon  she  realized — what  she  had  not 
realized  before — that  she  had  taken  advantage  of 
the  moment  when  he  was  pleading  his  love  for 
her  to  urge  him  against  his  conscience  in  her  fa- 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ther's  behalf.  She  had  meant  what  she  said  on 
quitting  the  dining  room — that  she  owed  him  an 
apology.  But  it  was  an  apology  of  humbled 
pride,  not  of  understanding. 

When  her  father  came  to  her  in  the  library  to 
bid  her  good  night,  she  said  nothing,  but  took  his 
thin  frame  in  her  strong  arms. 

For  a  moment  he  suffered  her  embrace,  then 
put  her  gently  aside.  "  You  don't  know,"  he  said. 
"  You  can't  know,  sweetheart."  He  bowed  his 
head  and  left  her. 

She  went  to  the  window  and  threw  aside  the 
curtains.  The  night  was  clear  and  soft,  and  a 
full  moon  rode  above  the  trees  in  the  square.  She 
put  out  the  lamp  and  leaned  her  head  against  one 
of  the  little  rectangular  panes  of  ancient  glass. 
Mechanically  her  eyes  took  in  what  they  saw — a 
clear  white  arc  lamp  that  threw  out  the  trees  about 
it  into  prominence  and  cast  dense  shadows  over 
a  bench  beneath,  upon  which  a  solitary  man  sat, 
vague  image  of  desolation.  Familiar  as  she  was 
with  the  sight  of  the  houseless  dregs  of  humanity 
that  haunt  the  square,  it  always  brought  a  pang  of 
almost  sisterly  pity.  And  there  was  something  in 
her  own  sorrow,  and  her  impending  fate — which 
after  all  was  not  dissimilar  to  theirs — that  now 
brought  a  particular  pang. 

The  door  opened  behind  her.  Quickly  drying 
her  eyes,  she  turned  and  descried  May  in  her 

152 


"  A  solitary  man  sat,   vague  image  of  desolation." 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

nightgown,  peering  into  the  room.  "  The  bride 
— all  in  white!  "  she  laughed,  with  half-hysterical 
tenderness.  It  was  the  first  time  the  sisters  had 
been  alone  together  since  the  betrothal,  and  in  a 
moment  they  were  in  each  other's  arms.  "  Are 
you  very  happy?  "  Judith  asked,  with  a  sympathy 
that  was  only  the  deeper  because  it  had  an  under- 
tone of  sadness. 

"Happy?"  May  cried.  "So  happy  I  can't 
sleep !  I  can't  lie  down.  I  want  to  run,  to  cry 
out — to  be  mad  with  joy!"  She  paused  in  the 
full  flood  of  her  exuberance  to  remember  her  sis- 
ter. "You  are  sad,  Judy  dear.  Why  is  it?  I 
know !  You  are  lonesome !  I'm  not  going  to 
leave  you — never!  It  won't  mean  that  you  and 
I  belong  a  bit  less  to  each  other!  I  made  Billy 
promise  that!  We  shall  be  with  you  every  mo- 
ment— two  of  us  instead  of  one!  " 

Judith  knew  that  her  sister  believed  what  she 
said  with  all  the  trusting  ardor  of  inexperience 
in  life.  For  the  world  she  would  not  undeceive 
her.  Yet  all  the  more  the  knowledge  of  what  the 
future  held  for  them  both  intensified  her  own 
desolation.  Their  poverty,  which  little  by  little 
had  separated  her  from  her  old  friends,  had 
brought  her  very  near  to  May.  And  now  that 
May  was  to  be  both  happy  and  rich  .  .  . 

They  heard  the  doorbell  ring,  and  by  and  by 
Mrs.  Boyser  brought  in  a  card.  It  was  Wistar's. 

11  153 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  Say  that  we  have  gone  to  bed,"  said  Judith. 

"No,  Boyser!  Tell  him  we're  up  and  will  see 
him!  "  As  May  said  this  she  put  a  firm  hand 
over  Judith's  lips. 

Boyser  was  not  unused  to  the  wilfulness  of  the 
younger  sister,  and  she  acted  with  the  long-accus- 
tomed license  of  a  faithful  servant.  "  I'll  give 
ye  wan  minute  to  skiddaddle !  "  she  said  as  she  de- 
parted. 

"  If  you  could  care  for  him !  "  May  exclaimed. 
"  Ah,  why  is  anyone  so  stupid  as  not  to  be  in 
love!" 

"  You  shouldn't  have !  "  Judith  protested.  "  He 
was  dreadful  this  evening!  " 

"  I  know !  Billy  and  I  quarrel  and  make  up. 
It  only  means  that  you  are  in  love!"  She  fled 
like  a  phantom  through  a  private  passage  that  led 
into  the  back  room.  "  Come !  Sleep  in  my  room 
to-night,"  she  called  back  from  the  threshold, 
"  and  tell  me  all  about  it!  " 

When  Wistar  came  in  Judith  was  lighting  the 
lamp. 

He  strode  quickly  to  her  and  took  the  match 
from  her  hand.  "  I  couldn't  look  at  you — bear 
to  have  you  look  at  me !  Only  let  me  say — my 
blunder  this  evening  .  .  .  my  violent  temper 
.  .  .  believe  me !  I  am  suffering  for  it !  Can 
you  ever  forgive  me?  " 

Though  she  could  see  him  only  in  dim  outline, 
154 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

she  recognized  that  it  was  he  who  had  been  sit- 
ting out  there  in  the  square.  But  for  his  deso- 
lation, now  so  near  and  so  appealing,  she  had  no 
trace  of  pity. 

"  To  forgive,"  she  said  coldly — "  it  is  the  easi- 
est of  all  the  virtues !  " 

"  You  mean  that  you  can't  forget — that  to  for- 
get would  not  be  a  virtue !  " 

"  What  you  have  done — what  you  have  said! — 
since  it  was  all  a  mistake,  yes,  I  could  forgive  it, 
and  forget  it!  Old  as  my  father  is,  and  weak — 
such  words  may  offend  him,  but  they  can't  harm 
him !  The  only  wrong  was  to  yourself." 

'  Yes — yes !  It  was  that  I  came  to  tell  you ! 
I  don't  hope  to  forgive  myself!  " 

"Nor  I,  myself!" 

He  shook  his  head.  "  I  don't  know  what  you 
mean!  " 

'  This  afternoon,  your  friendship " 

"  Friendship !  "  he  protested,  with  fine  scorn. 

"  Call  it  love,  then !  Whatever  it  is,  I  went  to 
you,  there  in  your  own  place,  pleaded  with  you 
in  our  behalf,  tried  to  make  use  of — of  what  you 
feel  for  me — in  a  matter  of  money!  " 

Again  he  shook  his  head.  "  I  don't  know  what 
you  mean !  " 

"  By  doing  that — I  who  don't  love  you,  can't 
ever  love  you — I  gave  you  the  right  to  think  as 
you  thought  of  us,  to  say  what  you  said.  Bribery 

155 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

and  theft,  treacherous  hospitality — in  the  way 
you  charged,  we  are  guiltless;  but  in  another  way, 
and  more  deeply  disgraceful,  /  am  guilty  of  them 
all!" 

"  It  is  not  true !  I  have  blundered — wronged 
you !  But  I  honor  you — love  you ! — and  I  always 
must !  Most  of  all  for  the  loyalty  to  your  father, 
which  made  you  feel  what  you  did,  for  your  frank 
trust  in  speaking  of  it  to  me!  What  I  threatened 
this  afternoon — defeat  to  your  father,  poverty  to 
you — instead,  I  shall  bring  him  success,  and  to  you 
the  life  of  use  and  beauty  you  were  born  to." 

"  You  must  not  do  that !  " 

"It  is  my  right — the  one  right  on  earth  I 
prize!  " 

The  words  brought  to  Judith  an  echo  of  what 
he  had  said  in  the  afternoon — that  he  grudged 
this  right  to  Penrhyn.  "  I  forbid  you !  "  she  ex- 
claimed. 

"  Not  for  your  sake,  but  for  my  own !  What 
I  did  this  evening — I  see  it  all  now !  I've  thought 
it  all  out,  on  the  bench  there  in  the  square.  I  sup- 
posed my  motives  were  the  best.  But  from  the 
start  I  have  been  obstinate — jealous!  I  thought 
very  ill  of  Penrhyn.  The  idea  of  what  he  is  to 
you  .  .  .  He  is  as  honorable  as  any  man." 

"  You  may  be  sure  he  is !  "  she  said  coldly. 

"  Then  it  is  my  privilege — a  privilege  with- 
out regret — to  work  with  him  for  you !  " 

156 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  I  forbid  you  to  do  anything  for  me !  " 

"  But  for  myself — with  my  own  I  can  do  what 
I  will!" 

"If  you  do,  it  is  the  end  of  everything  between 
us — friendship,  acquaintance  even." 

"  Let  it  be  the  end !  That  is  best,  when  to  see 
you  can  only  mean  torture!  I  can  leave  you! 
Once  before,  in  this  very  room,  I  left  you !  And 
I  lived  out  my  life  without  you — could  have  lived 
it  till  the  end.  My  fate  is  happier  to-day."  He 
stood  erect  with  the  consciousness  of  power — 
power  to  sway  her  life.  "  In  the  years  to  come 
when  you  think  of  me,  if  you  ever  do,  don't  think 
of  me  as  working  in  the  old  shop,  grimy  and  dull 
as  the  cave  man  you  called  me,  for  a  good  you 
never  dreamed  of.  I  shall  be  out  in  the  world — 
your  world ! — shoulder  to  shoulder  with  your 
father,  with  Penrhyn!  When  power  comes  to 
your  father,  and  happiness  to  you — it  will  be  I 
who  have  brought  it !  " 

'  You  would  force  the  gift  on  me !  "  she  cried, 
her  old  antagonism  mounting.  "  None  the  less 
it  would  be  a  gift!  You  would  make  me  feel  that 
I  had  bartered  my  soul !  " 

"  I  shall  claim  no  reward.  This  good-by  is  for- 
ever! But  all  my  life  I  shall  be  happier,  because 
I  shall  be  nearer  to  you — yes,  nearer  and  dearer!  " 
He  paused  a  moment,  and  then  reached  forth  his 
hand  to  bid  her  good  night. 

157 


f 
THE     CAVE     MAN 

She  shrank  against  the  curtain,  near  which  she 
had  been  standing,  and  instinctively  drew  her  hand 
behind  her  back. 

"You  won't  say  good-by?"  he  asked  very 
sadly.  "  You  despise  me  still — hate  me,  per- 
haps?" 

She  did  not  answer.  After  a  pause  she  shook 
her  head. 

"  You  are  not  afraid  of  me — afraid  because  I 
love  you?  " 

This  was  no  man  of  the  common  sort,  swayed 
by  the  selfishness  of  passion.  But  all  the  more 
his  love  offended  her,  roused  in  her  an  instinctive 
repulsion — the  primeval  spirit  of  revolt,  which 
was  also  the  spirit  of  fear.  "  No !  "  she  said, 
with  such  calmness  as  she  could  command.  "  I 
am  not  afraid  of  you !  What  should  I  feel  for 
a  man  like  you?  Yes!  You  are  right!  I  hate 
you!" 

"You  might  have  spared  me  that  word!  I've 
no  luck!  The  things  I  don't  care  for — never 
cared  for — all  come  to  me — wealth,  power,  all 
that !  They  find  me,  and  they  leave  me — the  cave 
man."  He  paused,  and  was  a  long  time  silent. 

Judith  stood  dazed  in  the  sway  of  emotions  she 
had  never  known  before.  Through  her  mood 
echoed  the  sound  of  his  voice,  humble  and  proud, 
impassioned  and  reverent,  pleading  and  command- 
ing. Her  face  was  averted,  but  she  felt  the  light 

158 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

of  his  eyes  upon  her,  encompassing  her  like  an 
aura  in  the  darkened  room. 

"  Till  to-day,"  he  pleaded,  "  I  had  my  dream 
of  you.  One  shaft  of  sunlight  shone  into  my 
dismal  life!  But  since  you  .  .  .  since  you  hate 
me,  everything  is  dark — in  the  cave."  His  head 
drooped  dejectedly,  and  slowly  he  turned  to  go. 
But  the  mood  lasted  only  a  moment.  "  No  I  Not 
all!"  he  said  proudly.  "You  hate  me.  I  shall 
not  get  used  to  that!  But  it  is  still  in  my  power 
— no  one  can  take  it  from  me ! — to  live  for  you — 
yes,  and  to  make  you  happy!  " 

He  left  her  so  quietly  that  she  scarcely  heard 
his  tread.  But  presently  the  door  closed  beneath; 
and  when,  in  obedience  to  an  impulse  the  memory 
of  which  later  brought  the  blood  to  her  cheeks, 
she  looked  out  at  the  window,  she  saw  him  walk 
out  of  the  gate  and  up  the  street,  resolute  and 
erect. 


159 


A 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

S  Wistar  turned  into  Fifth  Avenue, 
now  deserted  and  silent  beneath  its 
gleaming  rows  of  twin  arc  lights,  he 
heard  footsteps  behind  him.  Glancing 
mechanically  about,  he  saw  Andrews  issuing  from 
one  of  the  paths  that  lead  diagonally  across  the 
eastern  end  of  the  square.  He  turned  away 
with  mingled  pity  and  contempt.  Presently  he 
realized  that  the  sound  of  footsteps  had  ceased. 
Turning  again,  he  saw  a  shadowy  form  skulk  into 
the  mews  that  back  the  row  of  mansions  on  the 
square.  At  this  evidence  of  shame  in  a  man  natu- 
rally shameless  he  felt  a  moment's  surprise,  and 
then,  immersed  in  other  thoughts,  forgot  the  in- 
cident. 

As  he  let  himself  into  his  rooms  he  pressed  an 
electric  button  near  the  door,  in  obedience  to  a 
habit  of  long  standing.  In  a  far  corner  a  .globe 
of  favrile  glass  poured  forth  a  flood  of  opalescent 
golden  light.  Beneath  it,  standing  on  a  pedestal 
of  marble,  was  the  replica  of  a  renaissance  sculp- 
ture— a  young  and  beautiful  woman,  a  Madonna 

1 60 


THE     C  A  V  E     MAN 

perhaps,  the  simple,  serene  features  of  which  bore 
an  expression  that  might  have  reminded  one  of 
Judith  in  her  gentler  moments.  In  front  of  it 
stood  a  carved  mediaeval  priedieu.  In  the  first 
sorrow  of  ten  years  ago  he  had  flung  himself 
prostrate  here  and  poured  out  his  heart  in  prayer, 
as  if  to  the  one  creature  who  would  understand. 
And  ever  since  the  sight  of  the  little  altar,  with 
its  statue  and  its  lamp,  had  touched  his  heart  to 
a  certain  piety.  But  to-night,  as  he  saw  it  all,  he 
felt  as  if  a  stranger,  and  with  a  quick,  instinctive 
movement  he  switched  on  the  other  lights. 

The  whole  apartment  breathed  an  atmosphere 
of  rich  and  somber  beauty  which  had  been  no  less 
a  part  of  his  life  than  his  noisy  and  ill-smelling 
shops.  Here  was  all  the  home  he  had.  Men 
who  are  denied  the  warmth  and  loveliness  of  the 
normal  human  affections  are  apt  to  make  good 
their  loss,  as  well  as  they  may,  with  the  warmth 
and  loveliness  of  inanimate  objects — if  objects 
may  be  called  inanimate  which  supremely  stir  the 
eye  and  the  mind.  Dull  crimson  rugs  glowed 
upon  the  floor,  and  the  walls  were  hung  with  an- 
tique velvet,  through  the  worn,  red  nap  of  which 
shone  the  fire  of  a  web  of  gold.  On  all  sides  were 
low  shelves  filled  with  books,  good  books  and  rare 
books,  variously  bound  in  the  soberer  shades  of 
Morocco  and  illumined  with  exquisite  tooling. 

On  one  wall  was  a  large  French  landscape,  with 
161 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

a  round  of  young  girls  and  their  lovers  dancing  in 
the  twilight  of  a  forest  glade,  while  over  all  shone 
a  far,  deep  evening  sky  in  which  the  fading  blue 
of  daylight  mingled  with  the  faint  gold  radiance 
of  stars.  On  another  wall  was  a  Flemish  portrait 
of  a  young  man  whose  vivid  cheeks  and  deli- 
cately curved,  vital  lips  were  dominated  by  eyes 
in  which  lurked  the  sadness  of  the  ages.  The 
lists  of  the  works  of  two  of  the  world's  masters 
have  each,  among  the  names  of  famous  collectors, 
an  entry  which  reads:  "  In  the  possession  of  James 
Wistar,  Esq.,  New  York,"  but  Wistar's  feeling 
for  these  paintings  was  very  different  from  that 
of  the  connoisseur — though  just  what  it  was  he 
himself  would  probably  not  have  been  able  to  tell. 
Lonesome  though  his  life  was,  the  room  had  wel- 
comed him  from  his  workaday  existence  with 
something  like  the  embrace  of  comradeship  and 
tried  affection. 

Now  it  all  seemed  to  him  the  mere  shadow  of 
a  dream  that  was  dead,  and  deserved  to  be  dead. 
Turning  his  back  upon  it,  he  threw  open  the  win- 
dow and  looked  out  upon  the  roofs  of  the  city — 
the  gray,  disordered  world  of  human  fact.  He 
had  thought  that  his  life  was  devoted  to  her  mem- 
ory— and  what  had  she  cared!  He  had  plotted 
so  deeply  and  so  persistently  to  save  her — from 
what?  From  his  own  obstinacy!  And  finally  he 
had  gone  to  her  father  to  deal  with  him  in  the 

162 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

utmost  tenderness  and  reverence — and  had  ended 
by  wronging  him  brutally.  He  had  constituted 
himself  guardian  of  a  noble  and  generous  ideal, 
and  had  made  himself  a  blundering  victim  of 
jealousy. 

From  the  hurried  and  jumbled  events  of  the 
day  one  figure  stood  out  clear  and  unmistakable 
— the  figure  of  Judith,  not  like  this  marble,  pas- 
sive and  cold,  but  erect  and  defiant,  supporting 
with  her  long,  firm  fingers  the  white  head  upon 
which  he  was  heaping  insult.  Wistar  had  a  strong 
sense  of  the  essential  humor  of  life,  and  now,  at 
the  thought  of  the  discrepancy  between  the  world 
of  his  imagination  and  the  world  as  he  had  awak- 
ened to  find  it,  he  burst  into  a  peal  of  robust,  if 
bitter,  laughter.  "  I  tried  to  make  her  a  Fra  An- 
gelico  angel  in  a  nightgown,"  he  said,  "  and  she 
is  a  woman  of  blood  and  fire.  She  has  a  brain  in 
her  bonnet,  by  God,  a  body  beneath  her  frock; 
and  I'll  make  her  respect  me  as  a  man." 

With  rising  courage,  he  thought  the  whole 
thing  out  to  the  finish.  The  finish  was  Mrs.  Stan- 
ley Penrhyn,  a  leader  in  New  York  society,  the 
mother  of  many  children,  each  of  whom  had  a 
dimple  in  his  chin  and  alert,  blue  eyes.  "  A  good 
finish,  too,"  he  concluded.  "  Penrhyn  is  a  damn 
fine  fellow.  He's  no  moon  calf.  He  knows  what 
he  wants,  and  he  goes  and  gets  it !  " 

Presently  he  became  aware  that  in  the  back- 
163 


THE     CAVE     M-AN 

ground  of  this  idyl  was  the  figure  of  an  aging 
bachelor  with  hungry  eyes  and  hair  grizzling  at 
the  temples,  over  whose  lean  knees  the  five  chil- 
dren delighted  to  clamber.  But  he  caught  himself 
up  short  in  this  old  trick  of  sentimentalizing,  and 
remembered  that  he  had  bound  himself  not  to  see 
Judith.  "As  for  me,"  he  said,  "Hell!  7'11 
marry  the  typewriter."  He  burst  into  another 
peal  of  laughter,  and  with  it  his  fit  of  profanity 
ended.  Going  to  the  bedroom,  he  began  to  un- 
dress, throwing  his  clothes  about  in  his  manner 
of  the  unlicked  college  cub,  which  had  been 
cramped  by  no  home  influence.  The  Goody,  as 
he  called  the  chambermaid,  in  his  undergraduate 
parlance,  adored  him,  and  made  a  joy  of  what 
others  would  have  balked.  Lighting  a  long  drop 
pipe,  he  stretched  himself  out  on  the  bed.  Cool- 
ing breezes  from  down  the  bay  fluttered  the  loose, 
white  stuff  of  his  pajamas.  "  She  thinks  I'm  a 
stick-in-the-mud  and  a  ruffian,"  he  said  out  loud. 
"  I'm  not  as  bad  as  that;  and  even  if  I  don't  see 
her,  I'll  make  her  believe  it."  He  puffed  a  while 
in  silence.  The  longer  he  thought  of  Judith  in 
this  new  mood  the  less  he  felt  that  he  knew  her. 
Hazily  he  began  to  wish  that  he  might  see  her 
now  and  then  just  to  make  her  acquaintance.  By 
and  by  the  pipe  fell  from  his  lips,  and  he  was 
asleep. 


164 


T 


CHAPTER   XIX 

HE  meeting  of  the  promoters  was  held 
early  Monday  afternoon  in  Penrhyn's 
offices  in  Wall  Street.  As  Wistar 
entered  he  caught  the  pungent  odor  of 
sealing  wax,  and  the  whole  place  breathed  the  air 
of  official  formality.  The  clerk  by  the  door  was 
receipting  for  a  fat  package  of  registered  letters, 
and  he  made  Wistar  wait  till  he  had  finished, 
and  gravely  passed  the  time  of  day  with  the  ex- 
press messenger.  Then  he  took  Wistar's  card. 
When  he  returned,  however,  he  led  him  very  re- 
spectfully into  an  ante-room  and  left  him  standing 
while  he  carried  it  to  Penrhyn. 

Billy  was  already  there,  and  when  they  were 
alone  remarked  on  the  grandeur  of  their  sur- 
roundings. At  intervals  in  the  suite  of  rooms 
were  huge,  green  marble  columns,  apparently 
monoliths,  and  topped  with  gilded  Ionic  volutes. 
The  partitions  and  furniture  were  of  mahogany, 
and  the  floor  was  an  inch  deep  in  the  nap  of  a 
green  carpet.  Wistar  was  not  unused  to  the  sump- 
tuousness  of  financial  state,  but  Billy  gave  a  pan- 

165 


tomime  of  being  impressed  by  it,  and  spoke,  with 
a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  in  an  awed  whisper. 

Penrhyn  left  them  to  cool  their  heels  some  time ; 
and  when  he  came  in  and  led  them  to  a  directors' 
room,  his  manner,  though  hospitable,  was  far  re- 
moved from  his  customary  joviality.  Mr.  Sears, 
however,  whom  they  found  inside,  was  manifestly 
nervous  and  anxious  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  con- 
ference. Penrhyn  seated  himself  in  a  huge  arm- 
chair behind  a  vast  mahogany  table,  leaving  the 
others  to  sit  about  the  wall.  If  he  had  calculated 
the  effect  of  state,  however,  he  had  calculated  it 
shrewdly,  for  just  as  Wistar  was  beginning  to  sus- 
pect him  of  lugs  he  proceeded  to  business,  and 
with  a  simplicity,  directness  and  informality  that 
stood  out  in  bold  relief  from  the  atmosphere  with 
which  he  had  surrounded  himself. 

"  I  hope  it  isn't  necessary,"  he  said,  addressing 
Wistar,  "  to  insist  that  Mr.  Sears  and  I  respect 
your  economic  scruples  against  certain  forms  of 
trade  consolidations." 

''  That  is  the  sine  qua  non" 

''  We  stand  ready  to  back  you  up  in  anything 
reason  and  your  conscience  demands.  And  in  view 
of  the  magnitude  of  what  we  propose,  and  the 
complexity  of  the  problem  that  confronts  us,  it 
is  idle  to  deny  that  success  is  by  no  means  assured, 
and  especially  if  we  are  beset  by  opposition  as 
intelligent  and  powerful  as  you  would  put  up.'* 

166 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Here  he  paused,  and  added  with  a  frank  laugh : 
"  Yesterday  afternoon  we  thought  the  jig  was  up. 
I'm  afraid  it  is  anyway.  But  whatever  happens, 
I  want  to  say  that  it's  mighty  square  of  you  to 
come  down  here  for  a  final  conference." 

He  outlined  the  scheme  with  a  few  telling 
strokes.  It  was  sane  and  fair.  The  capital  he 
placed  at  a  conservative  figure,  and  named  a  pro- 
moters' bonus,  for  himself  and  Mr.  Sears,  which 
was  far  from  large.  As  leader  in  the  under- 
writing syndicate,  he  volunteered  to  subscribe  for 
a  large  share  of  stock  at  a  fair  price;  and  in  order 
to  facilitate  the  general  sale  to  the  public  he  prom- 
ised not  to  throw  any  of  his  holdings  upon  the 
market  for  two  years.  In  return  for  these  con- 
siderations, he  stipulated  that  he  be  assured  the 
office  of  treasurer. 

This  surprised  Wistar,  but  pleased  him  no  less. 
When  promoter  and  underwriter  make  a  quick 
profit  and  clear  out  it  looks  bad  for  the  industry, 
bad  for  the  investing  public.  Wistar  wanted  no 
better  guarantee  of  Penrhyn's  belief  in  the  scheme 
than  that  he  was  willing  to  stick  by  it  for  bet- 
ter or  for  worse.  "  I  not  only  promise  all 
that,"  he  said,  "  but  with  your  permission  I  insist 
upon  it." 

Penrhyn  nodded.  "  At  the  request  of  your 
former  allies,  you  say,  you  have  made  a  state- 
ment of  the  value  of  your  business.  We  will  give 

167 


THE     CAVE     MA  N 

you  the  full  amount  in  preferred  stock,  bearing 
cumulative  seven  per  cent  dividends."  He  then 
named  Wistar's  bonus  of  common  stock,  and  it 
was  liberal.  "  In  order  that  you  may  be  sure  of 
making  that  stock  as  sound  as  may  be,  we  guar- 
antee you  the  presidency  and  practical  control  of 
the  combination  for  two  years.  We  would  say 
longer,  only  we  fear  that  that  would  rouse  the 
jealousy  of  other  manufacturers;  and  as  the  best 
practical  substitute,  Mr.  Sears  and  I  stand  ready, 
and  hereby  promise,  to  use  all  our  influence  to  re- 
elect  you  as  often  as  you  desire." 

Wistar  took  out  a  pencil  and  went  through  a 
brief  calculation.  "  The  terms,"  he  concluded, 
"  are  liberal  in  the  extreme." 

Penrhyn  smiled.  "  I  know  that,  and  I  should 
be  the  last  man  to  offer  them  if  I  were  not  obliged 
to.  I  don't  suppose  you  are  aware  of  the  fact,  but 
no  bluff  on  earth  could  have  insured  such  terms 
as  your  honest  doubts  and  scruples." 

'  That  has  occurred  to  me,"  Wistar  said. 
"  Honesty  is  the  best  policy — when  a  man  is  his 
own  insurance  company." 

Penrhyn  laughed  in  a  way  to  make  Wistar  feel, 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  that  he  was  a  wit — 
a  fact  that  made  him  begin  to  suspect  flattery. 
But  in  the  nick  of  time  Penrhyn  went  on,  naming 
Sears  as  vice-president  and  fixing  his  salary  at  a 
figure  which,  though  not  excessive,  meant  com- 

168 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

fort,  even  a  moderate  degree  of  luxury,  to  his 
household. 

Wistar  nodded  acquiescence.  He  then  stipu- 
lated that  they  should  do  the  fair  thing  by  his 
allies  of  the  antisyndicate.  Penrhyn  readily 
agreed. 

All  this  had  passed  in  less  than  ten  minutes. 
Then  Penrhyn  looked  at  Billy  very  gravely. 
'  There  is  one  subject,"  he  said,  "  upon  which 
every  executive  committee  ought  to  have  the  ser- 
vices of  an  expert  always  at  hand,  and  with  this 
in  view  we  hope  to  prevail  upon  Mr.  Onderdonk 
to  accept  a  position  upon  ours." 

Billy  blushed,  conscious  of  an  ignorance  of  all 
things,  and  asked  what  the  subject  was. 

Penrhyn  paused  portentously,  and  then  said: 
"  Paint  rooms." 

The  executive  committee  was  to  have  five  mem- 
bers, and  with  Billy  on  it  Wistar's  position  would 
be  greatly  strengthened.  As  long  as  either  Mr. 
Sears  or  Penrhyn  stood  with  him,  he  would  con- 
trol the  entire  corporation.  It  increased  Wistar's 
confidence  in  Penrhyn  that  he  passed  over  this 
feature  of  his  plan  so  lightly. 

When  Penrhyn  was  about  to  call  a  stenogra- 
pher, however,  to  make  a  duplicate  note  of  their 
agreement,  Wistar  stayed  him.  "  The  worst," 
he  said,  "  is  yet  to  come — Minot.  His  ideas  are 
large,  but  I  think  not  exorbitant.  Certainly  they 
12  169 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

won't  grow  smaller  with  success.  I  propose  to 
ask  him  to  join  us  at  the  outset.  All  the  conditions 
of  the  game  require  that  a  dangerous  outsider  shall 
be  won  over.  If  he  demands  a  place  on  the  ex- 
ecutive committee,  there  is  a  place  left,  and  I  think 
we  ought  to  give  it  to  him." 

With  the  air  of  one  willing  to  be  convinced, 
Penrhyn  asked  for  figures.  Wistar  named  a  sum 
that  was  large  even  in  comparison  with  the  sums 
in  which  they  had  been  dealing. 

"  Is  his  device  sufficiently  basic  to  be  protected 
by  patent?  " 

"  Patent  law  is  most  uncertain.  But  if  he  had 
our  backing  no  one  would  dare  to  make  the  fight. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  leave  Minot  on  the  out- 
side, we  shall  be  his  rivals,  and  rivalry  will  increase 
his  obstinacy.  That  would  be  most  embarrassing 
for  me,  for  I  am  interested  in  both  concerns." 

Penrhyn  shook  his  head.  "  I  don't  doubt  your 
sincerity,  or  the  justice  of  the  price  you  name. 
But  in  acquiring  properties  the  value  of  which 
has  already  been  demonstrated  our  resources  will 
be  sufficiently  extended.  To  buy  in  Minot  in  ad- 
dition would  just  about  wipe  out  the  profits  of 
the  promoters,  and  in  fairness  to  Mr.  Sears  I 
don't  think  we  ought  to  do  that — to  say  nothing 
of  myself.  There  is  one  other  way — to  increase 
the  capital  stock;  but  that  would  create  financial 
difficulties,  first  in  placing  the  stock  with  the  pub- 

170 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

lie,  second  in  paying  dividends,  and  third  in  ac- 
cumulating a  surplus  against  possible,  even  prob- 
able, hard  times." 

The  argument  was  astute  and  telling,  for  Wis- 
tar  himself  had  vigorously  urged  the  necessity  of 
protecting  the  public  of  investors  against  loss,  and 
the  industry  against  being  sacrificed  to  the  neces- 
sity of  stock  manipulation.  That  Penrhyn  had 
any  ulterior  motive  for  not  wanting  Minot  on  the 
executive  committee  Wistar  did  not  for  a  moment 
suspect — his  whole  plan  had  seemed  liberal  and 
aboveboard;  but  he  protested  none  the  less  firmly. 

"  Of  two  evils,"  Wistar  protested,  "  the  one  I 
proposed  is  the  less.  To  take  Minot  in  now,  even 
at  so  advanced  a  figure,  would  in  the  end  prove 
an  economy." 

"  That  may  be,"  Penrhyn  conceded,  "  but  to  do 
so  would  look  to  the  financial  world  very  much 
like  speculation.  And  it  might  even  have  a  worse 
appearance,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  you  are  so 
heavily  interested  with  Minot.  Both  the  under- 
writers and  the  investing  public  would  be  certain 
to  take  a  sinister  view  of  it." 

At  this  Wistar  instinctively  bridled.  But  he 
was  learning  to  fear  his  instincts;  and  while  he 
hesitated — he  who  had  hitherto  always  known  his 
own  mind  and  spoken  it — Penrhyn  was  forging 
ahead. 

"What  do  you  think,  Mr.  Sears?"  he  said. 
171 


"  I  would  go  far  to  satisfy  Mr.  Wistar.  We 
owe  a  great  deal  to  the  courtesy  with  which  he 
has  yielded  to  our  representations." 

"  But  on  the  abstract  merits  of  the  case?  " 

"  It  has  the  disadvantages  you  mention." 

Penrhyn  turned  to  Billy. 

"If  we  are  to  intrust  the  management  of  the 
whole  concern  to  Wistar,"  the  boy  said,  "  I  don't 
see  why  we  should  doubt  his  judgment  now." 

"  But  the  question  is  financial  rather  than  in- 
dustrial." 

"  Does  the  financial  point  fall  within  my  baili- 
wick? "  Billy  asked.  Then  he  blushed  furiously, 
remembering  what  that  bailiwick  was. 

Penrhyn  laughed  aloud,  though  with  a  trace 
of  harshness  which  made  Wistar  feel  for  the  first 
time  that  beneath  his  outward  manner  was  a  strain 
of  excitement  and  suspense. 

There  was  a  pause.    Penrhyn  looked  to  Wistar. 

"  Billy  has  hit  the  nail  on  the  head,"  Wistar 
said  slowly.  "  In  a  corporation  such  a  matter 
can  be  decided  only  by  general  agreement." 

Again  Penrhyn  paused.  Wistar  scrutinized  his 
countenance  for  any  let-down  in  his  formal  ease 
and  calm,  but  it  broke  into  a  smile  of  friendly  em- 
barrassment. "  Mr.  Sears  and  I  are  both  against 
the  proposal,"  he  said,  "  and  Onderdonk  is  on  the 
fence." 

In  spite  of  Penrhyn's  fairness — perhaps  because 
172 


of  it,  for  it  was  somewhat  too  genial,  too  polished 
— Wistar  now  felt  that  the  man  had  motives  which 
he  kept  darkly  hidden.  They  were  obviously  re- 
lated to  this  matter  of  Minot;  but  how,  he  was  at 
a  loss  to  guess.  Of  his  own  position,  with  Billy 
and  Mr.  Sears  on  the  executive  committee,  he  felt 
secure.  It  was  possible  that  Penrhyn  was  planning, 
after  he  was  once  inside,  to  oust  him,  when  the 
pinch  came,  from  control.  But  to  do  that  he  would 
have  to  win  over  a  majority  of  the  board  of  direct- 
ors, which  would  require  a  majority  of  the  stock- 
holders. And  the  power  to  do  this  meant  the 
power  to  oust  Minot  also — and  Wistar  could  not 
see  that  he  had  such  power.  Yet  he  doubted.  His 
lifelong  habit  of  independence  revolted.  His  judg- 
ment was  not  his  own.  His  conscience  was  not  his 
own.  What  was  he,  the  merchant,  the  trust-buster, 
doing  in  this  galley  of  finance? 

He  was  about  to  break  off  the  negotiations 
when  he  became  aware  that  Mr.  Sears  was  gazing 
at  him,  hope  and  despair  battling  in  his  sensitive 
countenance.  He  remembered  their  last  meet- 
ing, and  how  suspicions  a  thousand  times  better 
grounded  had  betrayed  him;  of  Judith,  and  the 
wrong  he  had  done  her;  of  the  resolutions  of  his 
awakening. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  he  said.  "  Leave  Minot 
on  the  outside.  I  bow  to  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority." 

173 


w 


CHAPTER   XX 

HEN  the  meeting  broke  up,  Billy  went 
conscientiously  back  to  his  foreman  in 
the  machine  room ;  but  Wistar,  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life,  felt  the  lack  of 
a  definite  interest.  There  were  many  things  to 
do  at  the  garage,  but  the  place  reminded  him 
too  painfully  of  Judith,  and  the  break  he  had 
made  in  the  tenor  of  his  existence.  His  pres- 
ence was  needed  at  the  factory  but  he  had  some- 
how lost  interest  in  it.  The  new  company  for 
Minot  had  still  to  be  put  in  shape;  but  this  ap- 
pealed to  him  least  of  all.  The  work  of  his  life- 
time, upon  which  he  had  spent  infinite  pains,  was, 
or  soon  would  be,  no  longer  his.  He  himself  was 
a  mere  cog  in  a  vast  mechanism.  He  was  lone- 
some in  a  way  in  which  he  had  never  been  lone- 
some before,  and  for  the  first  time  in  his  memory 
he  went  to  his  club  in  the  afternoon. 

At  the  door  he  met  a  member  who  was  setting 
out  with  much  belabeled  hand  luggage  for  vaca- 
tion. He  thought  forlornly  of  how  long  it  was 
since  he  had  had  a  vacation,  and  even  more  for- 
lornly of  how  bored  he  would  be  if  he  took  one. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Within  the  club  brooded  the  drowsiness  of  mid- 
summer. The  main  room,  looking  on  Fifth  Av- 
enue, was  empty,  except  for  a  man  who  sat  in  a 
window  sipping  a  long  drink  and  gazing  listlessly 
into  the  street  where,  in  the  place  of  the  winter's 
stream  of  smart  carriages  and  motor  cars,  there 
was  only  an  occasional  hack,  or  a  rubber-neck 
wagon  with  its  cargo  of  sweltering  tourists.  The 
liveried  servants  were  idle  and  bored. 

Wistar  sat  down  by  the  center  table  and  opened 
an  evening  paper.  It  was  the  first  edition,  and 
was  made  up  of  a  rehash  of  the  morning's  news, 
eked  out  with  items  in  small  type  clipped  from 
exchanges.  He  took  an  elevator  for  the  library, 
but  though  there  were  some  twenty  thousand  vol- 
umes there,  he  could  not  find  one  he  cared  to  read. 
Even  the  placards  of  SILENCE!  distributed 
on  the  center  tables,  which  had  once  greeted  him 
like  a  benediction  after  a  day  in  his  machine  shops, 
seemed  an  ironic  superfluity.  He  lay  back  in  his 
chair  and  gazed  up  at  the  vaulted  ceiling.  It  was 
decorated  with  a  skillful  copy  of  one  of  the  master- 
pieces of  Italian  mural  painting,  but  it  bored  him. 
Then  he  went  to  the  barber  shop  and  had  his 
hair  cut,  and  afterwards  to  the  tank  for  a  cool 
plunge,  but  it  was  still  three  hours  to  dinner,  and 
six  hours  to  the  earliest  bedtime. 

His  eye  fell  upon  a  telephone  booth.  There 
were  a  score  of  men  with  whom  he  had  sometimes 

175 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

sat  down  for  dinner,  but  not  one  who  would  fit 
into  his  present  mood.  He  took  up  the  telephone 
book.  In  all  these  hundreds  of  thousands,  he 
asked  himself,  was  there  a  single  human  being 
upon  whom  he  could  rely  for  companionship,  to 
say  nothing  of  sympathy?  After  serious  consid- 
eration he  decided  that  there  was  just  one.  He 
went  inside  and,  calling  up  the  garage,  asked  for 
Billy.  Would  Billy  dine  with  him?  Billy  gen- 
erally dined  with  the  Searses.  If  Billy  were  given 
the  rest  of  the  afternoon  off,  could  he  manage  for 
this  once?  If  Wistar  really  wanted  him  he  would 
try.  Wistar  remarked  that  Billy's  engagement 
deserved  a  little  dinner  of  cousinly  congratulation. 
Billy  asked,  rather  dubiously,  if  that  was  what  he 
wanted — meaning,  if  that  was  all.  Wistar  pro- 
tested, and  truthfully,  that  it  was  not  all.  He 
added  that  he  wanted  to  talk  business;  but  that 
was  a  lie;  he  hated  business;  he  loathed  business. 
Billy  said  he  would  do  his  best. 

An  hour  later  a  club  servant  called  him  to  the 
telephone.  He  recognized  the  voice  of  May.  It 
was  horrid  of  Mr.  Wistar  to  take  Eilly  away  when 
they  all  had  so  much  to  celebrate.  Wouldn't  he 
come,  too,  and  dine  with  the  family?  They  would 
all  talk  business.  Wistar  floundered  a  while,  re- 
membering only  too  well  his  covenant  with  Judith. 

"  Is  it  because  it's  little  sister  me  that  asks  you, 
and  not  Judith?  "  May  pointedly  inquired. 

176 


T  H  E     CAVE     MAN 

She  was  more  nearly  right  than  she  knew,  but 
he  protested.  His  protest  was  feeble,  however. 

"  If  Judy  asks  you,  then  will  you  come!  "  May 
demanded. 

Inwardly  ironic,  Wistar  allowed  that  in  that  case 
he  could  not  reasonably  refuse. 

"Then  make  up  your  mind  to  be  a  victim!" 
May  concluded,  and  hung  up  the  receiver  with  a 
snap. 

Before  long,  however,  Billy  telephoned  that  he 
would  come  uptown  for  dinner;  and  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour  he  was  on  hand  at  the  Harvard 
Club,  one  of  the  few  clubs  in  the  metropolis  in 
which  it  is  possible  to  introduce  nonmembers — 
for  Billy  was  too  recently  graduated  to  have 
clubs  of  his  own. 

The  sight  of  him  filled  Wistar  with  sardonic 
glee.  "  I  rather  hoped,"  he  said,  quite  shame- 
lessly, "  that  I  was  to  be  invited  down  to  Wash- 
ington Square." 

Billy  hesitated  a  moment.  "  May  wanted  to 
ask  you,  and  Mr.  Sears.  But  Judith  proposed  that 
the  family  have  their  first  little  celebration  alone. 
It  means  a  whole  lot  to  them,  you  know." 

Judith's  escape  had  been  adroit,  but  no  less 
delicate  and  fine.  For  a  moment  Wistar's  old 
tenderness  revived.  With  it  came  a  pang — in  his 
lungs,  or  somewhere  near  them.  "  Was  Penrhyn 
there?  "  he  asked. 

177 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  He  proposed  a  blow-out  uptown  here  and 
spoke  of  asking  you,  but  Judith  wouldn't  have  it, 
and  he  made  his  skidoo,  along  with  me." 

Wistar  laughed  inwardly.  His  thrust  had  been 
a  close  one,  all  unpremeditated  as  it  was;  but  her 
parry  had  been  as  sportsmanlike  as  effective.  He 
had  never  before  chaffed  her,  and  he  felt  a  little 
thrill  worth  many  afternoons  of  ennui. 

Early  in  the  dinner  the  waiter  brought  wine  in 
its  bucket  of  ice.  They  touched  their  glasses,  and 
Wistar  said  a  few  words  that  made  Billy  flush 
with  pleasure,  and  unsealed  the  confidences  of  his 
bosom.  The  contrast  with  his  own  lonesome  state 
made  Wistar's  eyes  swim  with  an  emotion  which 
he  had  difficulty  in  dissembling.  No  man  was 
farther  than  he  from  the  weakness  of  self-pity; 
but  few  were  more  sensitive  to  the  poignant  beauty 
of  simple  happiness. 

With  the  second  bottle,  however,  Billy  broke 
the  spell.  "  I  must  say,"  he  remarked,  looking 
about  at  the  room,  "  that  you  bachelors  in  New 
York  do  yourselves  particularly  well." 

It  was,  in  fact,  an  apartment  of  notable  beauty, 
in  the  manner  of  a  baronial  dining  hall.  The 
floor,  walls  and  two  great  fireplaces  were  of  soft, 
gray  Yorkshire  stone,  and  on  the  high  oak  wain- 
scot hung  portraits  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  uni- 
versity, past  and  present.  The  lofty  ceiling  was 
upheld  by  oak  beams,  and  from  it  hung  two  silver 

178 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

chandeliers  of  exquisite  design — the  one  touch  of 
lightness  and  grace  in  all  the  vast  and  sober 
apartment. 

"  I  don't  think  this  sort  of  thing  ought  to  be 
allowed,"  Billy  concluded.  "  It's  a  discourager 
of  domesticity." 

Wistar  felt  the  touch  of  condescending  pity. 
"  You  are  right,"  he  assented.  "  It  is  the  reason 
why  I  have  never  married.  4  Two  souls  with  but  a 
single  thought '  is  alliterative;  but  it's  not  my  idea 
of  the  intellectual  life.  '  Two  hearts  that  beat  as 
one  '  suggests  an  admirable  cardiac  economy,  but 
a  certain  meagerness  in  the  life  of  the  emotions. 
Now  you  and  May,  I  suppose,  are  going  to  live 
in  a  flat?" 

"  She  has  already  picked  it  out,"  Billy  con- 
fessed dubiously. 

"  Precisely !  No  clubs  for  you !  Dinner  at 
seven-thirty  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  in 
the  year,  and  even  in  leap  year  you  have  to  fol- 
low the  ball,  keep  your  eyes  in  the  boat.  Then 
there  are  the  consequences.  Unless  I  miss  my 
guess,  you  are  destined  to  be  a  disciple  and  pride 
to  the  President.  When  the  second  child  is  born, 
they  say,  the  nose  of  the  first  is  broken;  but  the 
nose  of  the  husband  is  broken  with  the  first.  And 
do  you  think  that  even  then  you'll  be  allowed  to 
go  to  the  club?  Not  on  your  life!  You  for  the 
single  thought  and  single  heart!  As  a  willing 

179 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

martyr,  I  admire  you.  But  I  commiserate  you  as 
a  man." 

Billy  was  silent,  and  drank  two  glasses  of  wine 
in  rapid  succession. 

"  Some  men  have  the  idea  that  it's  a  fix  they 
got  themselves  into,  and  if  they  are  sportsmen 
they  play  the  game.  But  unless  I'm  mistaken,  you 
never  asked  anyone  to  marry  you?  Still  you'll 
have  to  play  the  game.  Let  us  be  honest!  Isn't 
it  a  case  for  cold  feet?  " 

Billy  became  very  dignified,  but  none  the  less 
thoughtful.  "  When  I  wake  up  at  night,  and  in 
the  early  morning,"  he  admitted,  "  it  sometimes 
seems  like  a  great  responsibility.  But  after  my 
bath  it's  all  right.  No!  I  don't  regret  it!  " 

Wistar  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter. 
"  Bravo!  "  he  cried.  "  The  man  doesn't  live  who 
is  a  hero  before  his  bath.  Billy,  you're  all 
right!" 

When  Billy  realized  that  he  had  been  horsed, 
it  put  him,  as  he  would  have  expressed  it,  very 
much  on  the  peeve. 

"  Don't  mind  me,"  Wistar  made  haste  to  apol- 
ogize. "  The  girl  I  wanted  wouldn't  have  me. 
Even  clubs,  and  all  this  sort  of  thing  —  hasn't 
quite  consoled  me.  And  now  that  I've  told  you 
the  story  of  my  life,  you  deserve  another  bottle." 

Billy  made  protest. 

"  It  won't  hurt  you,"  Wistar  pleaded.  "  It's 
1 80 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

of  the  magic  vintage  of  eighty-nine — all  joy  and 
no  kick." 

Over  coffee  and  cigars  Billy  gave  the  effect  of 
rising  up  in  his  chair,  for  the  cup  of  joy  soon  fills 
to  the  brim.  The  cup  of  sorrow  has  no  bottom, 
and  Wistar  sat  back  at  his  ease. 

"  Now  for  a  ride !  "  he  said,  when  the  tray 
was  filled  with  ashes. 

His  car  was  at  the  door,  and  taking  the  wheel 
he  dismissed  the  chauffeur.  As  they  swung  into 
Fifth  Avenue,  only  a  few  stray  cabs  were  at  the 
stands  by  Delmonico's  and  Sherry's.  The  thor- 
oughfare itself  was  deserted,  except  for  here  and 
there  the  caretaker  of  a  mansion  closed  for  the 
summer,  taking  the  evening  in  shirt  sleeves  in  the 
front  area. 

Almost  before  Billy  realized  it  they  were  in 
the  country,  with  the  smooth  white  State  road 
stretching  in  front,  and  a  world  of  green  flashing 
by  them  in  the  brilliant  field  of  the  acetylenes. 
The  exhilaration  of  speed  swelled  with  that  of 
iced  wine.  When  they  took  the  homeward  turn, 
Wistar  advanced  the  throttle. 

"Aren't  we  going  pretty  fast?"  Billy  asked. 
He  had  always  looked  upon  his  cousin  as  a  bit  of 
a  slow  coach.  Wistar  was  in  fact  a  model  mo- 
torist; he  never  exceeded  the  speed  limit — except 
when  there  was  no  possible  danger  to  others,  or 
chance  of  being  arrested. 

181 


Wistar's  answer  was  to  slide  the  throttle  knob 
still  farther  in  its  ratchet.  "  Now,"  he  said, 
spitting  his  words  into  the  hurricane  they 
were  cleaving,  "  now  we'll  only  touch  the  high 
places !  " 

Billy  grasped  the  sides  of  his  seat.  Was  it  pos- 
sible that  the  self-contained  Wistar  was  losing  his 
head?  He  thanked  his  stars  that  the  car  held 
true  and  firm  to  the  middle  of  the  way  and  that 
they  were  alone  in  the  midnight  road. 

ic  With  just  a  little  more  gas,"  Wistar  re- 
marked very  gravely,  by  and  by,  "  we  shan't  even 
touch  the  high  places!  From  the  top  of  that  hill 
ahead  I  can  do  a  Santos  Dumont  and  land  you, 
neat  and  clean,  in  front  of  the  club.  What  do 
you  say?  " 

Billy's  terror  mounted,  and  he  felt  as  if  the  ca,r 
were  already  soaring  into  the  heavens.  u  For 
heaven  sake !  "  he  cried,  and  grasped  his  cousin's 
forearm,  "  I'll  get  out  and  walk  home.  I  need 
the  exercise." 

As  they  bowled  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill, 
Wistar  slowed  down,  and  they  saw  the  lights 
of  the  city  reflected  on  the  sky  in  front.  When 
Billy  realized  that  they  were  still  on  terra 
firma,  he  breathed  a  great  sigh  and  relaxed  in 
his  seat. 

It  was  toward  one  o'clock  when  they  drew  up 
again  at  the  club,  and  Wistar's  man  was  waiting 

182 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

to  take  the  car.  Inside  a  light  supper  was  await- 
ing them,  and  another  bottle  in  its  melting  ice. 
Billy  drank  gingerly,  but  Wistar  stood  by  to  the 
finish  still  lax  and  grave. 

At  one  o'clock  the  lights  in  the  club  went  out, 
except  those  where  they  were  sitting,  and  the 
steward  respectfully  informed  Wistar  that  if  he 
stayed  on  he  would  be  fined. 

"  Fine  away,"  said  Wistar.  But  he  emptied 
the  bottle  and  rose  from  the  table. 

He  stopped,  however,  at  the  bar  and  asked  the 
barkeeper  for  calisaya.  "  My  friend  here,"  he 
said,  "  may  need  it  in  the  morning."  He  pocketed 
the  package,  and  linking  arms  with  Billy  crossed 
the  street  to  his  apartments. 

Again,  in  obedience  to  long  habit,  he  switched 
on  the  light  in  the  golden  globe  above  his  little 
altar.  But  he  immediately  turned  on  the  other 
lights. 

Billy  blinked.  "  I  like  dim  religious  business," 
he  protested,  and  turned  them  off. 

Wistar  glowered  at  the  corner,  but  acquiesced, 
and  with  meticulous  hospitality,  made  ready  a  bed 
for  Billy,  even  producing  slippers  and  gown  for 
the  morning.  Then  he  showed  him  his  little  ice 
chest,  and  the  calisaya  and  siphons  inside.  "  If 
you  feel  thirsty,"  he  said,  "  call  me  and  we'll  have 
another  drink." 

"  I've  been  in  several  tank  dramas,"  Billy  re- 
183 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

marked  in  admiration,  as  he  walked  out  of  his 
trousers,  "  but  this  is  the  most  'stonishing !  You're 
sober  as  a  magistrate  a  Monday  morning." 

Wistar  had  indeed  been  a  model  of  self-control, 
if  not  of  sobriety;  but  with  this  his  voice  broke 
loose  and  rose  to  a  calliope  yell.  "  Me  sober! 
I'm  tight  as  a  tire !  "  He  glared  luminously  about 
the  room,  his  glance  floating  at  last  to  the  golden 
globe.  With  sudden  energy  he  strode  to  the  cor- 
ner, and  lifted  the  marble  Madonna  upon  his 
shoulder.  Balancing  it  there,  he  swung  about 
with  the  motion  of  a  shot  putter,  and  with  gigantic 
energy  hurled  it  aloft.  It  struck  the  globe  squarely, 
shattered  it  and  exploded  the  cluster  of  electric 
bulbs  within.  Falling  on  its  former  pedestal,  it  scat- 
tered in  fragments  upon  the  floor,  amid  a  shower 
of  splintered  glass  and  the  rattling  of  windows. 

Billy  sat  bolt  upright  in  his  bed,  and  peered  in 
amazement  out  into  the  blank  midnight  of  the 
study. 

"Don't  be  'larmed!"  Wistar  reassured  him. 
"  Damn  things  never  were  any  good  anyway. 
Ought  to  have  done  that  ten  years  ago!  " 

The  shock  revived  Billy's  memory.  "  We 
haven't  said  a  word  'bout  business !  "  he  protested. 
"  Business  dinner.  Muss  talk  business  !  " 

"  Business!  "  Wistar  cried.  "  Business  you  say? 
I've  done  the  best  turn  of  my  life!  Yesterday  I 
was  trust-buster.  Now  I'm  trusted.  That's  not 

184 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

just  way  to  language  it,  but  you  know  what  I 
mean!  And  I — I  know  what  I  mean,  bet  your 
life.  You  watch  me  to-morrow!  " 

He  went  to  bed,  crooning  gladly,  "  Trust-buster 
trusted!     Trust-buster  trusted !" 


13  185 


w 


CHAPTER   XXI 

ISTAR'S  position  as  executive  head 
of  the  combination  made  a  radical 
change  in  his  daily  life.  It  was  no 
longer  possible  to  give  any  consider- 
able portion  of  his  time  to  his  old  business,  and  his 
first  duty  was  to  appoint  a  manager  in  his  place. 
He  selected  the  head  of  a  department,  doubled 
his  salary  and  promised  him  a  block  of  stock  in 
the  combination.  The  experiment  seemed  to  him 
hazardous;  but  it  speedily  justified  itself.  Things 
went  on  quite  as  well  as  before.  There  is  a  say- 
ing that  good  men  are  scarce,  and  it  had  been  a 
favorite  of  Wistar's;  but  he  now  woke  up  to  the 
inconsistency  of  proverbial  wisdom,  recalling  the 
equally  approved  adage  that  no  man  is  indispen- 
sable. 

The  awakening  struck  harshly  across  all  his  old 
habits  of  mind;  but  it  had  this  advantage,  that  it 
chimed  in  with  his  new  mood  with  regard  to  Ju- 
dith. What  he  had  been  all  these  years  meant 
as  little  to  the  work  as  to  her.  He  accepted  both 
conclusions  with  the  sardonic  self-satire  that  was 
fast  becoming  habitual. 

186 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  made  a  special  point  of  visiting  personally 
the  many  small  manufacturers  who  had  not  be- 
longed either  to  Penrhyn's  faction  or  his  own,  for 
it  was  upon  these,  he  believed,  that  the  chief  hard- 
ship of  the  new  order  would  fall.  He  promised 
himself  that  he  would  make  a  place  for  every 
good  man  he  found;  and  there  was  more  than  al- 
truism in  this,  for  he  was  well  aware  that  the 
future  of  any  great  combination  must  be  founded 
upon  men  of  ideas  and  of  individuality  of  char- 
acter. 

One  of  the  weaker  sisters,  as  he  soon  came  to 
call  them,  was  a  man  of  Dutch  ancestry,  who  had 
fixed  upon  his  model  three  years  before,  on  embark- 
ing in  the  business,  and  in  all  the  extraordinary 
development  of  the  motor  car  had  never  seen  fit 
to  change  it.  He  made  a  boast  of  the  fact,  and 
seemed  actually  to  regard  it  as  an  achievement. 
What  is  more,  he  did  a  fair  business  with  men  of 
his  own  stripe. 

Another  was  an  inventive  genius  who  had  var- 
ied the  standard  type  of  almost  every  part,  and 
was  the  proud  possessor  of  as  many  patents  as 
there  are  varieties  of  pickles — and  all  this  before 
he  had  put  a  single  model  on  the  market.  When 
Wistar  went  out  with  him  in  his  demonstration 
car,  the  newly  patented  ignition  gave  out  on  the 
gangway  leading  out  of  the  garage;  and  in  the 
middle  of  Central  Park  his  carburetor  sulked,  like 

187 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Achilles  in  his  tent,  and  refused  to  be  persuaded. 
Wistar  put  a  few  questions  as  to  his  financial  re- 
sources, and  found  that  he  was  in  high  hopes  of 
finding  enough  capital  in  the  near  future  to  pay 
his  last  year's  bills.  Then  he  bade  him  a  good- 
natured  adieu,  and  took  the  Fifth  Avenue  stage 
with  a  warm  admiration  for  its  simple  reliability. 

Still  another  man  was  turning  out  numbers  of 
runabouts  which  were  built,  as  he  frankly  ex- 
plained, on  the  principle  of  the  one-dollar  watch 
— the  best  thing  to  be  had  for  the  money.  Wis- 
tar pointed  out  that  with  such  cheap  and  ill-fin- 
ished materials  there  was  bound  to  be  an  infinite 
need  of  repairs.  The  man  smiled  cannily  and  said 
with  pride  that  the  profits  of  his  repair  shops  more 
than  equaled  those  of  the  original  sales. 

As  the  result  of  a  month  of  hard  labor,  which 
included  thousands  of  miles  of  travel,  from  old- 
world  Bridgeport  to  newly  arisen  San  Francisco, 
Wistar  was  convinced  that  nothing  is  commoner 
in  life  than  individuality  and  ideas;  but  he  had 
not  found  one  man  or  one  idea  worth  securing  for 
the  combination. 

With  heightened  curiosity  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  concerns  that  had  gathered  under  Pen- 
rhyn.  Many  of  them,  he  knew,  were  strong  and 
able;  but  about  many  more  he  had  his  suspicions, 
for  his  ideas  of  trust  promotions  were  founded 
upon  the  practice  of  half  a  dozen  years  before, 

188 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

when  Colonial  blacksmith  shops  and  the  latest 
developments  of  Pittsburg  brains  were  rolled  into 
a  conglomerate  mass  and  sold  in  shares  of  com- 
mon and  preferred.  To  his  amazement  he  found 
scarcely  an  instance  in  which,  to  use  the  vernacu- 
lar, Penrhyn  had  been  stung.  When  he  brought 
his  own  former  allies  under  scrutiny,  he  was 
obliged  to  admit  that,  though  assembled  by  a  com- 
mittee of  cooperative  experts,  they  contained  a 
considerably  larger  proportion  of  dead  wood. 

Then  Wistar  did  some  hard  thinking.  The 
sense  of  commercial  values,  he  concluded,  is  a 
thing  quite  apart  from  the  technical  knowledge  of 
commodities.  Penrhyn  scarcely  knew  a  clutch 
from  a  carburetor,  but  he  knew  a  good  man  and 
a  sound  plant  by  telepathy — or  at  best  by  the 
same  sense  that  is  making  the  sons  of  Abraham 
financiers  of  everything,  though  producers  of  noth- 
ing. The  fact  that  Penrhyn  had  let  Minot  slip 
through  his  aptly  meshed  net  Wistar  now  felt  in- 
clined to  put  down  to  the  fact  that  he  was  only 
a  Yankee.  At  the  end  of  six  months  the  late 
trust-buster  had  gained  no  little  respect  for  high 
finance. 

Wistar's  next  problem,  to  which  in  fact  he  had 
given  a  part  of  his  time  from  the  outset,  was  to 
build  up  the  various  concerns  into  an  organic  unit. 
His  plan  was  to  confine  each  to  the  production  of 
a  distinct  type  of  car,  the  whole  to  include  every 

189 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

variety  for  which  there  was  a  market.  Where 
several  factories  had  produced  each  a  small  num- 
ber of  cars  of  similar  model,  one  now  produced 
a  large  number  of  the  same  model.  A  number  of 
factories  he  shut  down  at  once,  transferring  the 
men  and  managers,  as  far  as  possible,  to  other 
shops.  With  regard  to  Irvingdale  Smith,  his 
temptation  was  to  wipe  out  the  nefarious  concern. 
But  to  his  surprise  he  found  that  it  was  well  or- 
ganized and  profitable.  He  ended  by  making 
essentially,  what  it  had  been  superficially,  a  dupli- 
cate of  his  own.  The  plant  operated  in  a  widely 
different  section,  and  by  doing  this  he  gained  local 
good  will  and  a  considerable  sum  in  freights. 

Here  as  elsewhere,  as  far  as  practicable,  he 
made  each  part,  from  cylinder  to  screw,  of  stand- 
ard size,  pattern  and  finish.  The  result  was  a 
vast  convenience  to  the  motoring  public  in  repairs 
and  at  the  same  time  a  vast  advantage  in  the 
manufacture.  A  single  shop,  giving  regular  and 
full  employment  to  expert  specialists,  was  able  to 
do  the  work  that  had  hitherto  been  done  at  irreg- 
ular intervals  by  general  workmen;  and  the  gain 
was  as  great  in  quality  of  output  as  it  was  in 
cheapness. 

In  facility  and  economy  of  sales  the  result  of 
combination  was  a  notable  saving.  With  fewer 
models  to  sell  there  was  need  of  fewer  agencies  and 
agents,  fewer  advertisements  in  newspapers  and 

190 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

periodicals.  The  only  competition  was  with  sin- 
gle and  unimportant  makers,  and  could  be  more 
cheaply  and  successfully  met  by  maintaining  a  rep- 
utation for  excellence  than  by  the  aid  of  the  elo- 
quence of  the  writer  of  advertisements  or  the  volu- 
bility of  the  agent.  Before  the  year  had  passed 
Wistar  was  convinced  that  with  all  these  savings 
it  would  be  possible  to  scale  down  prices  a  good 
thirty  per  cent  and  still  gain  enormous  profits; 
and  he  made  a  special  point  of  gathering  minute 
data  with  a  view  to  recommending  this. 

The  final  advantage  of  combination,  the  power 
to  regulate  prices,  he  was  slower  to  realize,  for 
it  was  closely  allied  to  the  abuses  he  had  so  long 
abhorred — the  extortion  of  undue  profits;  yet  as 
time  went  on  he  saw  it  clearly  and  more  clearly. 
With  competition  reduced  to  the  minimum,  and 
dealing  in  large  quantities,  it  was  possible  to  avoid 
irrational  fluctuations  both  in  buying  raw  mate- 
rials and  selling  the  finished  product.  In  times 
of  prosperity,  he  foresaw,  it  would  be  less  easy 
for  the  makers  of  iron  and  steel  to  exact  from  him 
unfair  terms;  and  when  a  business  depression  cut 
off  the  demand  for  motor  cars  there  was  less  like- 
lihood that  the  market  would  be  ruined  by  a  des- 
perate cutting  of  prices.  He  had  accepted  the  old 
order  of  competition  as  one  of  the  incidents  of 
life — as  earthquakes,  fire  and  flood  are  incidents 
of  the  general  life  of  man.  But  he  gradually, 

191 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

and  in  part  unconsciously,  slipped  into  Judith's 
opinion  that,  economic  sincerity  being  granted,  it 
was  as  needless  as  it  was  wasteful  of  the  blessings 
of  civilization. 

In  fact  many  of  the  prophecies  of  the  promot- 
ers, which  he  had  laughed  at  only  a  few  months 
ago,  now  seemed  to  him  possibilities,  even  proba- 
bilities. Already  he  had  reduced  the  cost  of  man- 
ufacture of  the  various  parts  so  low  that  it  was 
possible  to  put  a  skillfully  designed  and  finished 
one-cylinder  car  on  the  market  at  a  price  within 
the  means  of  commuters  of  average  means.  In 
thinking  of  the  model  he  sometimes  called  it  his 
Straphangers'  Scorcher,  and  sometimes,  in  mem- 
ory of  his  friend  the  independent,  his  One-dollar 
Wonder.  But  whatever  he  called  it  he  saw  that 
it  would  bring  ease  and  health  to  thousands.  In 
the  end,  it  might  even  counteract  the  present  un- 
wholesome tendency  toward  the  congestion  of  life 
in  the  cities,  making  the  metropolis  the  arena  of 
mere  business,  and  putting  it  within  the  power  of 
the  million  to  live  in  the  country,  motoring  in 
and  out  daily.  Thus  the  classes  most  bitterly  op- 
posed to  trusts  might  in  the  end  be  the  chief 
gainers — not  in  dollars,  perhaps,  but  in  whole- 
some living,  which  is  the  end  of  all  wealth. 

He  was  no  less  active  in  behalf  of  cars  of  more 
expensive  design.  The  news  of  the  American 
combination  had  hardly  been  made  public  when 

192 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

it  became  known  that  the  leading  European  manu- 
facturers were  effecting  a  not  dissimilar  organiza- 
tion, and  it  soon  became  evident  that  they  were 
planning  to  take  a  stronger  hold  upon  the  Ameri- 
can market.  For,  backward  as  we  had  been  in 
the  manufacture  of  motor  cars,  our  abundant 
wealth  and  delight  in  novelty  had  made  us  the 
chief  of  the  world's  consumers  of  this  as  of  other 
commodities.  As  yet  they  had  a  vast  advantage. 
The  industry  had  had  its  origin  abroad,  and  had 
reached  its  highest  development  there.  The  ablest 
inventors  were  on  the  Continent,  and  better  work- 
manship was  to  be  had  for  smaller  wages.  More- 
over, the  public  had  long  been  accustomed  to  ac- 
cept the  Continental  car  as  best;  and  though  tli? 
tariff  gave  an  advantage  to  the  home  product,  the 
buyers  of  first-class  cars  were  not  inclined  to 
consider  a  few  thousand  dollars  in  the  original 
cost  as  against  possessing  the  best  the  market  af- 
forded. The  next  few  years  would  see  a  struggle 
to  the  death  for  dominance.  Wistar  proceeded 
slowly,  but  gained  point  by  point.  In  a  very  few 
years,  he  calculated,  it  would  be  possible  to  equal 
the  best  Continental  cars  in  all  respects,  and  to 
transfer  the  fight  to  their  home  markets. 

And  the  destiny  of  the  American  motor  lay  in 
his  hands.  The  idea  of  power  had  never  appealed 
to  him  very  strongly;  but  the  possession  of  it,  and 
most  of  all  his  new  visions  of  its' possibilities  for 

193 


THE     C  A  V  E     MAN 

good,  took  firm  hold  upon  his  imagination.  It 
seemed  to  be  his  fate  to  be  mocked  by  the  very 
phrases  he  had  scoffed  at  that  day  in  his  garage. 
He,  James  Wistar,  might  yet  be  a  "  factor  in 
world  politics."  He  had  never  regretted  the  de- 
struction of  his  altar  to  the  Judith  of  his  memory, 
even  in  the  dawn  of  the  morning  after,  with  its 
combination  of  sweltering  heat  and  thirst.  There 
were  times  when  he  would  have  been  glad  of  a 
chance  to  let  the  future  Mrs.  Stanley  Penrhyn  know 
that  he  was  a  different  man  from  the  late  James 
Wistar,  and  that  it  was  she  who  had  made  him  so. 

Even  while  he  felt  himself  rising  to  his  new 
responsibility,  however,  he  questioned  whether  it 
vras  right  for  any  private  citizen  to  have  as  great 
a  fortune  as  was  coming  to  him,  or  to  play  so 
large  a  part  in  the  lives  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 
It  was  all  against  his  American  instinct  of  equal- 
ity. And  these  misgivings  were  greater  because 
his  old  distrust  of  his  associates  would  not  down. 

On  the  very  day  after  he  had  thrown  in  his  lot 
with  the  combination,  Irvingdale  Smith  had  called 
again,  and  had  sounded  him  as  to  precisely  the  mat- 
ter contained  in  the  stolen  list.  He  appeared,  as 
always,  the  cheerful  pirate  he  was;  but  his  manner 
was  not  that  of  a  man  who  had  gained  inside  in- 
formation, and  least  of  all  of  a  man  who  was 
dissimulating  the  fact  that  he  had  done  so.  Inci- 
dentally he  had  sent  in  his  card.  It  was  a  busi- 

194 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ness  card,  not  a  social  card,  and  it  differed  in  size, 
shape  and  lettering  from  the  one  Wistar  had 
taken  from  Andrews.  The  whole  case  against 
Irvingdale  Smith,  to  his  mind,  fell  to  the  ground. 

Wistar's  good  opinion  of  Penrhyn,  meanwhile, 
was  the  result  not  so  much  of  instinct  and  judg- 
ment as  of  what  philosophers  call  the  will  to  be- 
lieve. Occupied  with  the  business  end  of  the  new 
corporation  he  had  had  little  time  for  the  politics 
that  centered  in  the  election  of  directors,  and  with 
Billy  and  Mr.  Sears  to  back  him  up  he  had  no  fear 
that;  the  authority  which  had  been  promised  him 
would  be  called  in  question.  When  it  was  too  late 
to  make  protest  he  found  that  the  place  on  the 
committee  which  he  would  have  given  to  Minot 
had  been  given  to  Irvingdale  Smith.  Though  a 
stronger  man  than  Wistar  had  supposed,  Smith 
scarcely  deserved  so  important  a  post;  and  in  view 
of  their  past  relations,  to  give  it  to  him  was  at 
best  discourteous,  especially  as  the  decision  had 
lain  easily  within  Penrhyn's  power.  As  matters 
stood,  Penrhyn  and  Smith  had  only  to  win  over 
Mr.  Sears  in  order  to  outvote  him  on  any  point  in- 
volving his  policy  as  practical  manager;  and  the 
more  powerful  he  made  the  combination  the 
greater  would  be  their  temptation  to  bend  its 
power  to  evil  ends. 

Before  long  his  signal  vigor  and  success  as 
manager  of  the  industry,  contrasting  as  it  did  with 

195 


THE     CAVE     3M  A  N 

his  former  well-known  hostility  to  big  trade  com- 
binations, had  made  him  in  a  manner  a  public 
character.  One  of  the  daily  papers,  the  attitude 
of  which  was  that  of  a  satirical^  if  good-humored, 
man  of  the  prosperous  world,  printed  a  leading 
article  about  him,  calling  him,  by  name,  the  star 
pupil  of  the  experience  school,  and  displaying  his 
views  before  and  after.  This  was  in  the  midsum- 
mer silly  season,  with  a  Presidential  campaign  in 
the  near  future  in  which  the  trusts  were  to  be  a 
leading  issue;  and  the  paper  pursued  the  subject 
from  day  to  day,  humorously  exaggerating  its  im- 
portance, and  luring  subscribers  to  write  letters 
expressing  their  minds  about  Wistar,  in  terms  sa- 
tirically gay. 

The  incident  did  not  lessen  his  sense  of  the 
gravity  of  his  predicament;  but  it  nourished  his 
sense  of  humor  with  regard  to  himself,  and  he 
came  to  see  that  life  is  a  comedy  or  a  tragedy  ac- 
cording as  one  maintains  or  loses  his  good  sense 
and  the  courage  to  laugh  at  fate. 

In  the  autumn,  early  in  the  second  year  of  his 
control,  came  an  incident  which  put  a  new  edge 
upon  his  doubts.  Happening  in  at  the  Harvard 
Club  one  evening  for  dinner,  he  ran  upon  Pedey 
Ryan,  the  old  quarterback,  Rough  Rider  and  soldier 
of  fortune,  whom  he  had  encountered  in  the  Sta- 
dium, Class  Day,  and  whom  he  had  not  thought 
of  since.  The  little  man's  face  was  tanned  to 

196 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

leather,  his  cheeks  were  sunken,  and  the  gaunt 
bones  beneath  were  a  living  picture  of  an  Irish 
potato  famine.  He  was  drinking  pony  after  pony 
of  brandy.  The  two  fell  upon  each  other's  necks 
like  long-lost  brothers — as  they  would  have  done 
if  they  had  met  at  the  age  of  seventy,  on  the  brink 
of  the  grave,  though  they  had  not  thought  of  each 
other  since  the  old  gridiron  days. 

Ryan,  Wistar  gathered  in  the  course  of  friendly 
questioning,  had  been  in  South  America.  Ever 
since  his  Rough  Rider  days  he  had  had  a  han- 
kering for  Dago  countries.  Hence  his  fever- 
ridden  state;  and  hence  also,  Wistar  surmised,  his 
thirst.  He  had  been  all  over  the  shop — up  the 
Amazon  to  the  place  where  the  natives  shoot 
poisoned  arrows  at  you  with  blow  guns,  and  the 
vampire  is  not  a  metaphor  but  a  bat.  He  had 
had  dealings  with  various  Dago  republics,  too. 
He  had  led  one  revolution  to  a  successful  issue 
and  crushed  another — casualties:  one  Indian 
killed,  three  negroes  wounded,  one  Spaniard 
scared  to  death,  and  a  bullet  through  his  own 
Irish  neck.  What  was  it  all  about?  Ryan  hesi- 
tated, and  then  said,  "  Rubber."  Wistar  took 
this  as  a  vernacular  rebuke  to  his  friendly  curi- 
osity, and  dropped  the  subject  in  favor  of  dinner. 

It  was  some  days  before  an  alternative  expla- 
nation offered  itself.  Of  all  the  parts  of  a  motor 
car,  the  tires  are  the  only  one  in  which  it  is  even 

197 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

faintly  possible  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  raw 
material,  and  the  tires  are  as  vital  a  part  of  the 
whole  as  the  engine  itself.  The  lands  where  rub- 
ber is  grown  are  comparatively  few,  and  are  not 
beyond  the  resources  of  modern  finance.  To  bring 
a  new  grove  to  the  bearing  requires  eighteen  years. 
The  motor-car  industry  of  the  whole  world  might 
be  at  the  power  of  the  syndicate  that  monopolized 
the  existing  rubber  forests.  All  that  was  needful 
was  to  negotiate  the  purchase  of  lands — often 
merely  to  gain  concessions  by  squaring  republics. 
Then  there  flashed  upon  him  the  memory  of  an 
incident  so  trivial  that,  though  his  eye  had  regis- 
tered it  with  its  usual  clearness  and  vividness,  it 
had  never  before  impinged  upon  his  mind.  In 
the  Stadium,  Class  Day,  Ryan  had  nodded  to  Pen- 
rhyn  and  offered  a  glad  hand — which  had  been 
received  furtively  and  with  a  trace  of  hesitation. 
It  was  a  nebulous  hypothesis,  but  it  accounted  for 
all  that  had  hitherto  been  dark. 


198 


M 


CHAPTER    XXII 

INOT'S  new  prosperity  had  taken  the 
form  of  a  little  house  off  Madison 
Avenue,  which  he  had  converted  into 
a  graceful  and  comfortable  English 
basement.  Wistar,  who  had  advised  him  in  this, 
had  early  formed  the  habit  of  going  there  for 
Sunday  breakfast.  This  was  ostensibly  to  talk 
business — the  organization  and  management  of 
the  company  formed  to  exploit  the  new  gear;  but 
in  reality  it  was  quite  as  much  for  the  little  un- 
wonted glimpses  it  gave  him  of  homely  comfort 
and  happiness.  To  the  unwilling  bachelor  there 
is  no  time  as  trying  as  the  day  of  rest,  with  its 
enforced  slump  from  the  rush  and  excitement  of 
the  week.  Anything  was  welcome  which  would 
make  him  forget  the  emptiness  and  dreariness 
of  his  life.  And  he  soon  formed  a  sincere  re- 
gard for  the  Minots,  while  their  daughter,  a 
child  of  nine,  shamelessly  adored  him.  Be- 
sides, he  sometimes  caught  a  glimpse  of  Judith 
there. 

199 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Judith's  interest  in  the  family  was  in  fact  keen 
and  kindly.  Mrs.  Minot  was  a  pale,  shrinking 
little  woman,  the  record  of  whose  twenty  years  of 
privation  was  evident  in  hair  prematurely  white 
and  an  ominous  cough.  But  these,  as  Judith  soon 
found,  were  only  the  outward  signs  of  a  deeper  and 
more  vital  deterioration.  In  the  past  she  had 
thought  of  her  friend  as  a  gentlewoman  forced 
by  fate  into  alien  surroundings.  Now,  to  her  sur- 
prise, she  found  her  ill  at  ease  in  returning  to  the 
life  to  which  she  had  been  born.  Persistent  mis- 
fortune had  left  her  the  victim  of  superstitious 
whims.  Though  she  hated  the  sewing  which  had 
once  been  her  bulwark  against  starvation,  Judith 
found  that  she  worked  at  it  diligently,  keeping  her 
finger  tips  still  rough  and  callous — as  one  knocks 
wood  and  cries  unberufen  to  propitiate  the  imps 
of  malevolent  fortune.  This  amused  Judith, 
even  while  it  touched  her;  but  a  subsequent  dis- 
covery shocked  and  distressed  her.  To  cure  the 
incipient  consumption  nothing  more  was  needed 
than  a  year  in  the  Adirondacks,  but  to  this  Mrs. 
Minot  refused  to  consent — not  so  much,  Judith 
found,  from  unwillingness  to  leave  her  husband 
and  child,  as  out  of  an  instinctive  fear  that  if  she 
presumed  upon  their  marvelous  new  prosperity  it 
would  take  wings.  Once  she  let  Judith  persuade 
her  to  come  to  dinner,  but  when  she  found  that 
there  were  to  be  other  guests  she  did  not  come. 

200 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Her  greatest  happiness  was  in  helping  her  old 
neighbors  of  the  slums,  and  even  this,  Judith  sus- 
pected, was  more  than  half  a  rite  of  propitiation. 

Despairing  of  the  mother,  Judith  turned  her  at- 
tention to  the  daughter,  Gertrude,  a  wiry,  intense 
child  who  had  rubbed  off  something  of  the  man- 
ner and  accent  of  her  former  playmates  of  an  East 
Side  public  school.  To  provide  her  with  new  com- 
panions and  prepare  her  for  the  ampler  life  that 
was  now  possible,  Judith  proposed  to  place  her  in 
a  fashionable  school,  and  to  this  end  it  was  neces- 
sary to  correct  her  minor  faults  of  manner,  for 
fear  of  ridicule  from  her  new  schoolmates.  But 
Mrs.  Minot  would  not  hear  of  a  governess.  Even 
for  her  child  she  feared  to  claim  the  luxuries  which 
life  denied  to  so  many. 

The  experience  gave  Judith  her  first  real  sense 
of  the  blight  of  poverty.  She  had  often  felt  that 
the  food  she  ate,  the  very  stuff  of  the  gowns  she 
wore  and  the  paper  of  the  books  she  read,  were 
won  out  of  the  toil  of  human  bodies.  But  she 
now  realized  how  much  more  deeply  than  this  the 
many  pay  for  the  well-being  of  the  few.  Time 
and  again  she  thought  with  a  little  shiver  what 
might  have  come  to  herself  if  fate  had  done  her 
the  turn  it  once  so  dangerously  threatened.  Even 
when  women  succeeded  in  business,  she  realized, 
they  were  liable  to  lose  much  of  their  birthright 
of  grace  and  delicacy.  And  if  she  had  failed, 
14  20 1 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

would  she  not  have  been  cramped  in  mind  and 
spirit,  as  in  her  outward  life? 

Such  misgivings  took  an  acutely  personal  turn 
whenever  she  came  upon  Wistar  in  the  little  house. 
His  manner  was  casual  almost  to  the  point  of  in- 
difference, but  she  was  none  the  less  conscious  that 
it  was  tinctured  with  irony.  She  could  not,  of 
course,  be  aware  that  the  irony  was  directed 
mainly  against  himself,  and  it  provoked  her  old 
resentment  of  him.  This  was  no  superficial  mood. 
Her  father's  prosperity  had  made  her  mistress 
again  of  her  own  little  fortune,  but  she  refused 
to  indulge  herself  in  the  many  small  luxuries  dear 
to  the  feminine  heart,  for  they  would  somehow 
have  seemed  to  her  to  have  come  from  Wistar. 
And  the  realization  that  in  this  she  was  acting 
somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Mrs.  Minot  did  not 
shake  her  resolve. 

Wistar's  misgivings  as  to  the  ultimate  wisdom 
of  what  he  had  done  had,  in  fact,  been  powerfully 
reenforced  by  the  encounter  with  Ryan,  and  now 
they  received  a  further  impulse.  Minot's  gear 
had  already  turned  out  all  that  either  of  them  had 
hoped.  The  ease  and  accuracy  of  its  control  made 
it  everywhere  a  convenience,  and  in  the  crowded 
traffic  of  the  city  streets  almost  indispensable. 
Wistar  was  eager  to  secure  it  for  the  cars  of 
the  combination.  Penrhyn,  however,  remained 
strangely  unconvinced  of  its  value,  and  as  Wistar 

202 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

had  predicted,  Minot's  ideas  as  to  price  had  grown 
with  success.  There  seemed  likely  to  be  a  dead- 
lock between  them,  ending  in  bitter  rivalry.  To 
facilitate  an  agreement,  and  somewhat  also  in  order 
to  sound  the  depths  of  Penrhyn's  purposes,  Wistar 
offered  to  sacrifice  all  his  profits  in  the  Minot  com- 
pany. 

To  this  Penrhyn  at  first  appeared  to  consent; 
but  when,  as  Wistar  had  foreseen,  Minot  de- 
manded a  position  on  the  executive  committee, 
and  the  assurance  of  being  able  to  carry  out  his 
ideas  without  let  or  hindrance,  Penrhyn  would 
not  hear  of  it;  an  executive  office,  he  argued,  even 
a  directorship,  was  elective,  and  could  not  be 
promised  to  any  man.  When  Wistar  objected 
that  they  themselves  controlled  sufficient  stock  to 
insure  Minot  his  place,  Penrhyn  rejoined  that  to 
admit  him  they  would  have  to  depose  a  valuable 
man — Irvingdale  Smith.  Wistar  counted  on  Mr. 
Sears's  good  sense  to  prevail;  but  when  the  motion 
was  put  formally  it  was  lost. 

Wistar  was  angry  through  and  through,  and  no 
less  suspicious  than  angry.  But  he  controlled  him- 
self to  the  extent  of  advising  Minot  to  waive  the 
point.  All  one  Sunday  morning  he  labored  in 
persuasion.  The  inventor  remained  obstinate. 
First  and  last  his  answer  was  the  same.  Penrhyn 
and  Sears  had  promised  to  give  Wistar  practical 
control  of  such  matters,  and  on  this,  the  first  im- 

203 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

portant  issue,  they  had  overruled  him.  For  Mi- 
not  to  trust  to  their  good  faith  was  to  put  his  head 
in  the  lion's  mouth.  In  spite  of  Wistar's  growing 
enthusiasm  for  the  combination,  he  could  not  deny 
the  justice  of  the  objection.  He  ended  the  con- 
ference with  deep  foreboding. 

At  the  front  door  he  found  Gertrude  waylaying 
him.  Denied  her  customary  clamber  on  his  knee, 
she  begged  him  to  stay  to  dinner.  "  You  haven't 
heard  my  lesson,"  she  pleaded.  "  If  you'll  only 
stay,  I  promise  to  say  it  poifickly !  " 

"  How  will  you  say  it?  " 

"  O  Gehrtle,  come  out  on  the  cuhrb  and  see  the 
bihrd  fly  over  the  chuhrch  \  There !  " 

Fie  sat  down  on  the  bottom  stair,  hat  in  hand, 
and  with  the  able-bodied  Gertrude  on  his  knee. 
"  But  you  say  it  perfectly"  he  protested,  "  not 
poifickly" 

Gertrude  hid  her  girlish  blushes  in  his  lean, 
tanned  cheek  and  hugged  him  with  all  her  might. 

His  ear  was  caught  by  the  whisper  of  silken 
skirts  behind  him. 

"  I  hope  I'm  not  intruding,"  Judith  laughed. 
She  had  stopped  in  to  see  Mrs.  Minot  on  her  way 
home  from  church  and  had  counted  on  getting 
away  without  meeting  Wistar;  but  finding  that  he 
also  had  divined  the  needs  of  Gertrude  and  was 
sharing  her  labors  she  was  tempted  to  pause. 
"  You  say  it  pehr-rfectly,"  she  said,  mocking  the, 

204 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Western  r  which  his  long  residence  in  the  East 
had  not  quite  silenced.  "  Some  people  say  it  peh- 
fectly — O  Gehtie,  come  out  on  the  cuhb  and  see 
the  bihd  fly  oveh  the  chuhchl  " 

The  child  eyed  the  woman  with  something  very 
like  jealousy — she  had  an  odd  little  face,  the  face 
of  one  destined  to  adore,  with  high  cheek  bones, 
a  large,  well-formed,  sensitive  mouth  and  big 
brown  eyes.  "/  say  it  per-r-r-fectly  1  "  she  cried. 

Wistar  laughed,  and,  putting  her  down,  went 
to  the  door  to  open  it  for  Judith. 

"  Now  he'll  go  and  go  with  you,"  Gerty  pro- 
tested. "  And  I  was  trying  so  hard  to  make  him 
stay  to  dinner !  " 

The  remark  raised  a  question  which  Wistar 
would  have  avoided.  Gerty  had  protested  too 
much.  "  If  I  may  go  with  you,"  he  felt  obliged 
to  say. 

Judith  paused,  no  less  constrained.  "  If  you 
wish,"  she  answered. 

"  I  think  you're  horrid,  Aunty  Judith,"  the 
child  pouted.  "  You  make  everybody  love  you, 
and  you  won't  love  anybody !  "  This  was  her  ver- 
sion of  a  scrap  of  conversation  picked  up  from  in- 
cautious elders.  "If  you  don't  intend  to  love  him, 
you've  no  business  to  make  him  love  you !  " 

Judith  blushed,  and  Wistar  laughed.  "  She 
can't  make  me  love  her!  "  he  exclaimed;  and  tak- 
ing Gerty  in  his  arms  kissed  her  good-by. 

205 


THE     CAVE     M  A  N 

"  /  love  you !  Whether  you  love  me  or  not, 
I  love  you !  " 

"  And  I  should  adore  you,  even  if  you  hated 
me,"  he  answered,  as  he  passed  into  the  street. 
"  What  do  you  think  of  that?  " 

"  I  couldn't  do  that — ever!  "  Gerty  cried  after 
him.  "Only  naughty  people  hatel"  And  she 
stood  watching  Judith  with  stern  disapproval  as 
they  walked  away. 


206 


I 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

T  was  the  first  time  Wistar  had  been 
alone  with  Judith  since  he  had  thrown 
in  his  lot  with  Sears  and  Penrhyn,  and 
each  was  aware  that  this  chance  re- 
mark of  the  child's  had  recalled  to  the  other  the 
word  with  which  they  had  parted. 

She  was  grave,  but  a  satirical  smile  lurked  in 
Wistar's  cheeks.  "  I  see  you  realize,"  he  said, 
"  that  you  are  one  of  the  naughty  people." 

"  Naughty  is  as  naughty  does.  Have  I  really 
been  naughty  to  you?" 

He   evaded  the   answer.      "  You  wouldn't  let 
May  have  me  to  dinner." 
"  Did  you  want  to  come?  " 
"  No.     But  I  wanted  you  to  ask  me." 
"  In  a  woman  you  would  call  that  feminine  in- 
consistency." 

"  Perhaps  it  would  be  in  a  woman.  In  me  it 
was  an  altruistic  desire  to  find  you  not  a  naughty 
person." 

"  I'm  not  a  naughty  person!  "  she  said,  more 
vehemently  perhaps  than  she  realized. 
"  But  you're  very  easily  teased!  " 
207 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  looked  at  her  with  calm  impersonality, 
resolved  to  know  her  as  she  was,  divested  of  all 
the  glamour  which  his  love  had  cast  about  her. 

The  delicate  beauty  of  her  girlhood  was  fresh 
as  ever,  though  she  must  now,  he  reckoned,  be  in 
her  thirtieth  year.  If  he  had  not  known  he 
would  not  have  believed  that  she  had  much  more 
than  turned  twenty.  Her  form  was  perfect  in 
all  the  free,  soft  outlines  of  womanhood,  her  tread 
elastic  and  sure.  Her  cheeks  were  clear  and  vivid, 
and  the  sun  smote  the  brown  of  her  hair  into  gold. 
She  was  gay,  friendly,  light-hearted.  But  was 
she  anything  more  than  that? 

"  There  is  this  one  subject,"  she  said,  after  a 
pause,  "  upon  which  you  will  always  find  me  sen- 
sitive. What  you  have  done — as  it  has  turned  out 
— do  you  regret  it?  Tell  me!  " 

"Under  what  compulsion?"  he  said  quizzi- 
cally. "  I  did  it  for  myself — you  forbade  me  to 
do  it  for  you  1  " 

"  That  is  quibble.  Among  many  reasons  for 
telling  me  I  will  mention  one.  I  am  very  much 
in  need  of  a  new  gown."  She  held  out  her  arms, 
as  if  inviting  inspection. 

Her  manner  was  light  and  irresponsible,  but  he 
understood  very  well  what  she  meant  to  say — 
that  she  was  as  determined  as  ever  not  to  accept 
good  fortune  the  source  of  which  was  open  to 
question.  He  had  no  desire  to  tell  her  the  sin- 

208 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ister  turn  affairs  had  taken;  and  besides,  it  suited 
him  to  take  her  whimsical  mood  quite  seriously. 
The  gown,  he  observed  with  careful  inspection, 
was  of  black  cloth,  and  though  the  nap  was  thin 
in  places  its  cut  gave  distinction  to  her  figure,  and 
its  few  facings  and  embroideries  of  white  seemed 
modish  in  the  extreme.  "  It  appears  to  me  a  won- 
derful fine  gown,"  he  said.  "  I  noticed  that  even 
before  you  called  my  attention  to  it." 

"But  the  sleeves!"  she  cried.  "You  aban- 
doned, irreclaimable  man,  the  sleeves !  " 

"  Ah,  yes,  the  sleeves !  Sometimes  I've  noticed 
they  are  more  like  that,  and  sometimes  less." 

"  Be  serious,  and  tell  me  what  I  want  to  know ! 
I  shall  catch  you  if  you  quibble,  and  despise  you !  " 

"  Is  it  very  desirable  to  have  the  sleeves  more 
so — or  ought  they  to  be  less  so?  " 

"  That  has  nothing  to  do  with  it!  " 

"  You  knew  the  supreme  importance  of  sleeves 
that  night  when  you  refused,  as  you  said,  to  '  bar- 
ter your  soul '  for  them?  " 

"  If  you  really  want  me  to  hate  you,  go  on!  " 
His  persistent  mockery  was  trying  her  patience,  as 
indeed  it  had  every  right  to  do. 

"  In  many  ways,"  he  said,  choosing  his  words 
with  care,  "  things  have  turned  out  far  better  than 
I  ever  imagined — quite  as  well  as  you  believed 
they  would.  I  have  to  thank  you  for  a  great 
deal." 

209 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

She  nodded  a  little  I-told-you-so !  But  what  she 
said  was:  "  Is  that  the  whole  truth?  " 

"  Have  I  taken  my  Bible  oath?  " 

"  If  you  respect  me,  you  will  tell  me."  She 
said  this  very  earnestly. 

"  Just  now  it  seems  that  there  may  be  trouble  in 
store." 

"  I  should  like  to  know  about  it.  Not  for  that 
reason,"  she  added,  as  if  to  forestall  banter. 
"  For  other  reasons." 

He  briefly  outlined  the  situation,  minimizing  its 
gravity,  and  of  course  saying  nothing  about  the 
suspicions  that  centered  in  Ryan. 

"  But  they  promised  in  such  matters  to  follow 
you,"  she  said  with  clear  comprehension. 

He  nodded  negligently. 

"  That  ends  my  new  gown !  " 

"  OA,  I  am  sorry  1  "  he  cried.  "  Please  take 
my  poor  little  joke — as  a  joke.  That  is  only 
kind!" 

"  But  if  it  came  to  a  matter  involving  your 
principles,  then  there  would  be  serious  trouble?" 

He  did  not  answer,  and  they  walked  on  in  si- 
lence. 

Winter  had  worn  on  into  spring,  and  the  out- 
door life  of  the  town  was  beginning.  In  Madison 
Square  there  were  the  usual  number  of  curbstone 
preachers  holding  forth  to  knots  of  park  loafers, 
curious  passers-by,  and  workmen  in  their  Sunday 

210 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

best.  As  they  passed  near  one  of  these  they  heard 
the  word  "  Trusts,"  and,  glancing  aside  at  the 
speaker,  recognized  Andrews,  his  red  whiskers 
and  imperial,  and  pale,  pasty  face  thrown  into 
relief  by  a  far  from  customary  suit  of  solemn 
black.  With  a  touch  on  Wistar's  arm,  Judith 
signaled  him  to  stop. 

The  man  seemed  quite  sober,  and  was  speaking 
with  apparent  conviction  in  language  unwontedly 
grammatical.  But  it  was  none  the  less  evident 
that  he  was  enjoying  his  eloquence  to  the  full, 
strangely  compounded  of  illiteracy  and  magnilo- 
quence. 

As  his  shallow,  excited  eyes  swept  over  the 
faces  of  his  hearers  he  recognized  Wistar,  and  his 
face  lighted.  "  I  see  among  ye,"  he  cried,  "  a 
man  I  used  to  know — the  most  hon'able,  the  squar- 
est.  He  used  to  be  an  independent  merchant — 
an  independent  gentleman.  But  a  trust  was  pro- 
moted. The  octopus  reached  out  its  slimy  clutches 
to  gather  him  in." 

Wistar  turned  in  disgust  to  go,  but  Judith 
caught  his  sleeve.  "How  exciting!"  she  ex- 
claimed. "I  do  want  to  hear  what  he  thinks 
of  us!" 

Andrews  saw  her  interest,  and  expanded  with 
delight.  "  He  made  a  stand  for  his  independence, 
for  his  manhood.  But  you  know  the  way  of  the  ink- 
squid!  It  envelops  its  victim  in  a  cloud  of  murk 

211 


that  blinds  him,  the  effluvera  of  its  own  corrupt 
body! — theft,  treachery,  deceit!  Perhaps  you  say 
he  was  a  fool — that  the  wise  man,  when  he  reco'- 
nizes  the  perlution  of  the  ink-squid  avoids  its  life- 
sucking  tentacles!  But  the  ink-squid  is  cute,  it  is 
wary!  It  casts  its  blinding  cloud  about  James 
Wistar  before  he  was  on  to  the  game.  The  dark- 
ness became  a  false  light.  He  welcomed  his  fate. 
To-day,  as  he  stands  among  ye,  he  is  no  longer  a 
man,  though  he  appears  the  most  upright.  His 
blood  has  become  the  blood  of  the  nauserous  crea- 
ture that  devoured  him,  his  stren'th,  its  stren'th! 
Slowly,  but  with  a  certainty  truly  turble,  he  is 
reachin'  out  to  strangle  and  devour  his  feller-men, 
who  he  once  regarded  as  friends,  as  brothers. 
Wealth  and  power  are  his'n.  Beauty  stands  by 
his  side,  and  is  proud  to  stand  there!  " 

Every  eye  was  now  fixed  upon  the  two,  and 
already,  with  a  common  impulse,  they  had  turned 
and  were  walking  away. 

But  the  words  of  eloquence  followed  them. 
"  All  the  more,  I  say,  he  is  a  plague  sore  on  the 
body  politic !  " 

Before  either  spoke,  they  had  reached  the  busi- 
ness section  of  lower  Fifth  Avenue  and  were  walk- 
ing in  its  canon-like  shadows.  Then  she  said, 
"  Is  there  one  atom  of  truth  in  what  he  charges? 
Do  you  feel  that  you  have  been  in  the  least  false 
to  yourself?  " 

212 


"They  had  turned  and   were  walking  away. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  thought  quickly,  and  then,  ignoring  her  first 
question,  he  said:  "  For  the  present,  no." 

In  front  of  them  the  Washington  Arch  loomed 
up,  bowered  in  the  greening  yellows  of  early  fo- 
liage. Always,  since  he  had  known  her  as  a  girl, 
the  sight  of  it  had  awakened  the  old  melody  in 
his  heart — all  the  more  poignantly  sweet  now  for 
the  minor  cadence  into  which  it  had  fallen  with 
the  lapse  of  years.  He  had  only  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  it  from  the  elevated,  or  the  platform 
of  a  Broadway  trolley,  to  revive  the  sense  of  all 
life  had  ever  promised  him.  And  once  more,  as 
he  neared  it,  she  was  at  his  side ! 

As  they  turned  into  the  square  disillusion  stalked 
upon  him.  Two  men  were  approaching  in  the 
path  that  leads  across  the  eastern  end,  in  one  of 
whom  they  recognized  Penrhyn.  "  Hello !  "  said 
Wistar,  welcoming  a  change  in  the  subject,  "  he 
has  been  downtown  at  work  on  Sunday.  In  New 
York  that  is  rare  proof  of  diligence !  " 

"Not  he!"   Judith   laughed.      "More   likely 
he  is  just  out  of  bed,  and  on  his  way  to  the  club 
for  breakfast!     He  lives  over  there  in  the  Bene-* 
dick." 

Wistar  had  not  known  this,  and  the  discovery 
recalled  the  night  when  he  had  seen  Andrews  in 
the  selfsame  path.  Occurring  separately,  the  two 
incidents  of  their  walk  down  the  avenue  might 
have  been  forgotten,  but  coming  thus  rapidly  in 

213 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

succession  they  took  instant  meaning.  The  ha- 
rangue he  had  just  heard  was  wild  enough  for  the 
most  part,  but  certain  words  reechoed  in  his  mind, 
and  recalled  the  time  when  he  himself  had  so  un- 
fortunately used  them — theft,  treachery,  deceit. 
How  had  Andrews  got  such  an  idea,  if  not  by 
being  a  factor  in  the  business  of  that  night?  And 
who  would  have  employed  him,  if  not  Penrhyn? 
If  there  had  been  treachery  then,  moreover,  might 
not  his  present  difficulty  with  Minot  have  an  even 
more  sinister  explanation  than  he  suspected? 

As  Wistar  bowed  to  Penrhyn  in  passing  a  sar- 
donic smile  stole  into  the  corners  of  his  mouth. 
Then  he  stared  in  surprise.  In  Penrhyn's  com- 
panion he  recognized  Pedey  Ryan,  hero  of  the 
deadly  blow  gun  and  the  bloodless  revolution,  dis- 
guised in  a  flowing  frock  coat  and  sleek  top  hat. 
Between  these  men  there  could  be  only  one  bond 
of  connection;  and,  as  Pedey  bowed  in  response 
to  Wistar's  salute,  his  expressive  face  wore,  all 
unconsciously,  a  look  of  deprecation,  almost  of 
apology.  "  Rubber  "  had  ceased  to  be  the  syn- 
,  onym  of  curiosity,  and  become  that  of  vigilance, 
indeed  of  fear.  It  was  clear  enough,  now,  why 
at  the  outset  Penrhyn,  instead  of  clearing  out  with 
his  promoter's  profit,  had  taken  office  in  the  com- 
bination, why  he  had  so  persistently  refused  to 
accept  Minot  as  a  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee. The  plot  against  Wistar  had  been  deeper 

214 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

and  more  subtle  than  he  had  charged,  even  in  the 
heat  of  anger — the  stake  immeasurably  vaster. 
And  placed  as  he  now  was,  on  the  inside  and  sub- 
ject to  the  will  of  a  majority,  his  power  to  com- 
bat it  was  crippled. 

When  they  came  to  her  door,  Judith  asked 
Wistar  in  to  luncheon.  The  least  she  could  do, 
she  said,  was  to  offer  as  much  for  his  company  as 
Gertrude. 

'  Thank  you,"  he  said  with   the   negative   in- 
flection. 

"  I  mean  it!  "  she  protested.  "  If  I  am  willing 
to  be — not  naughty — at  least  you  might  let  me!  " 

The  new  fear  in  his  mind  had  deepened  his  Sab- 
bath lonesomeness.  She  at  least,  if  she  knew 
what  he  knew,  would  be  on  his  side.  And  it  was 
so  long  since  he  had  felt  anything  like  the  touch 
of  her  beauty,  her  comradeship !  In  his  heart  he 
knew  that  she  was  all  he  had  ever  dreamed  her, 
and  more.  The  old  instinct  to  prostrate  himself 
before  her  came  back  on  him.  Life  offered  this 
one  moment  of  happiness,  why  not  seize  it?  But 
the  temptation  was  brief.  He  would  not  bend 
again  until  he  stood  straight  in  the  eyes  of  all. 
'  Thank  you,"  he  repeated. 

'  You  mean  that  as  a  reproach  to  me !  "  she 
said. 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  felt  that  she 
was  seriously  striving  for  his  good  will. 

215 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  If  you  don't  mean  it  so,"  she  added,  "  you 
will  do  as  I  ask." 

He  did  not  misconstrue  her  motives.  The  co- 
quetry of  vanity  was  a  thing  unknown  to  her,  but 
she  was  full  of  the  coquetry  of  the  affections :  he 
had  seen  her  stop  on  the  streets  to  win  the  con- 
fidence of  a  mongrel  who  slunk  from  her.  Still 
he  stood  firm.  "  I  was  thinking  of  what  Andrews 
said — of  the  darkness  in  which  I  labored  that 
night.  When  it  is  finally  cleared,  I  shall,  if  I 
may,  claim  acquaintance  with  you." 

"  But  in  the  meantime,"  she  still  pleaded,  "  if 
I  forgive  you  ?  " 

"  I  must  decline,"  he  said,  and  left  her,  though 
not  before  he  had  seen  her  cheeks  flush  at  what, 
in  spite  of  himself,  he  had  implied. 


216 


o 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

F  the  revelations  of  that  Sunday  morn- 
ing none  impressed  Wistar  more 
deeply  than  the  fact  that  he  had  not 
known  where  Penrhyn  lived.  He 
knew  every  turn  in  the  thread  of  the  least  impor- 
tant screw  in  his  machines,  but  he  was  ignorant 
of  the  most  obvious  fact  with  regard  to  his  most 
powerful  associate.  In  the  old  days  he  had  some- 
what proudly  said  that  his  business  was  with  men 
who  manufacture  motors,  not  stocks;  but  he  now 
realized  with  humility  that  everything  depended 
on  meeting  on  their  own  ground  the  leaders  of 
this  once  despised  industry  of  finance. 

To  inquire  into  conditions  in  the  rubber  coun- 
try, and  even  to  find  out  whether  the  productive 
forests  were  in  a  way  to  be  monopolized,  was  a 
work  he  could  and  must  intrust  to  subordinates. 
But  he  was  obliged  to  proceed  in  person  to  get  a 
line  on  Penrhyn's  associates  and  resources,  and 
especially  on  his  more  intimate  personal  equation 
— his  character,  his  methods,  the  kind  of  fight  he 
would  make.  For  as  yet  the  evidence  of  the  man's 
15  217 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

duplicity  was  only  circumstantial.  Wistar's  sense 
of  honor,  indeed  his  sense  of  expediency,  forbade 
him  to  make  any  pretense  of  friendship.  But 
there  was  a  way  in  which  he  could  meet  the  man 
as  an  enemy,  and  this  was  the  way  most  likely  to 
be  fruitful. 

The  year  before,  Penrhyn  had  played  on  the 
Willowbrook  polo  team,-  which  had  won  the 
championship  from  his  own  country  club.  Why 
shouldn't  he  make  his  old  place  on  the  team?  It 
is  a  game  that  tries  men's  souls.  To  get  into  con- 
dition he  entered  the  squash-ball  tournament  of 
the  Racket  Club,  and  was  not  displeased  when, 
as  the  tournament  progressed,  he  came  face  to  face 
with  Penrhyn. 

They  met  in  the  third  round.  It  was  a  warm 
day  in  early  summer,  and  they  played  in  the  light- 
est costume — sleeveless  gauze  shirts  and  linen 
running  breeches.  As  they  entered  the  red-walled 
court  each  cast  a  quick,  comprehensive  glance  at 
the  other.  Wistar  was  long  and  spare,  with 
straight,  powerful  legs,  wide  reach  of  the  sinewy 
arms,  huge,  bellowslike  thorax  and  thick  muscular 
torso.  His  opponent  was  of  smaller  stature,  well 
knit,  and  with  knotty  muscles,  full  of  spring. 

Penrhyn  played  a  brilliant  game,  full  of  diffi- 
cult and  unexpected,  apparently  miraculous,  strokes 
that  brought  burst  after  burst  of  applause  from 
the  gallery.  He  won  the  first  set  easily.  But 

218 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

toward  the  end  of  the  second  Wistar's  steadiness 
and  endurance  began  to  wear  him  down. 

"  Damn  your  legs  and  lungs !  "  said  Penrhyn 
with  rueful  pleasantry.  "  I'm  larding  the  lean 
earth.  You've  got  me  now  where  you  want  me !  " 

"  Not  if  you  ring  in  any  more  of  those  mira- 
cles !  " 

"  Miracles !  "  Penrhyn  cried  with  frank  disgust. 
'  The  man  who  plays  squash  has  no  need  of  mira- 
cles !  "  As  they  took  their  positions  for  the  final 
game  he  tapped  the  floor  with  his  racket. 
"  Here's  where  friendship  ceases ! "  he  said, 
laughing. 

To  Wistar  it  seemed  rather  where  friendship 
began,  for  it  was  his  nature  to  think  well  of  the 
world,  and  Penrhyn  had  been  a  model  of  modesty 
in  success,  of  good  temper  in  adversity,  and  of 
sportsmanlike  earnestness  and  fairness  every- 
where. Though  plainly  all  in,  he  played  with  grit 
and  tenacity;  yet  even  with  the  match  hanging 
in  the  balance  he  twice  corrected  the  decision  of 
the  marker,  insisting  that  Wistar  take  a  point 
where  a  let  had  been  called.  Was  it  possible  that 
Wistar  had  been  mistaken  in  his  man?  The  ques- 
tion cost  him  four  points  straight;  but  he  pulled 
himself  together  and  won  the  match  without  diffi- 
culty. 

Penrhyn  shook  his  hand  cordially.  "  I  couldn't 
have  won  the  semifinals,  anyway,"  he  said; 

219 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  and  I  think  you  stand  to  do  so."  The  com- 
pliment was  perhaps  excessive,  for  in  his  next 
match  Wistar  had  to  meet  one  of  the  best  players 
in  the  club,  who,  as  it  turned  out,  disposed  of  him 
in  two  easy  games ;  but  it  was  none  the  less  gener- 
ous and  good-natured. 

They  bathed  in  adjoining  showers,  dressed  and 
dined  together,  and  afterwards,  at  Penrhyn's  in- 
vitation, went  to  the  theater.  It  was  years  since 
Wistar  had  spent  as  pleasant  an  evening;  and 
after  a  long  and  cooling  nightcap  at  the  club  he 
half  believed  that  he  had  done  the  man  injustice. 

Before  many  weeks  Wistar  had  occasion  to 
alter  this  judgment.  At  a  meeting  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  Penrhyn  proposed  to  increase  the 
next  dividend. 

"  That  would  be  a  drain  on  our  surplus,"  Wis- 
tar objected.  His  plans  for  the  industry,  now 
dear  to  his  heart,  required  a  large  reserve  of  capi- 
tal. "  My  idea  is  to  reduce  the  dividend.  The 
time  is  coming  when  we  shall  have  to  stand  off 
those  foreign  fellows." 

"  That's  right!  "  Irvingdale  Smith  put  in  cheer- 
fully. "It  is  up  to  you  to  give  them  a  black  eye. 
But  there  are  other  ways  to  do  it." 

"  Other  ways  than  by  making  our  cars  as  good 
and  cheap  as  theirs?  "  Wistar  pointedly  questioned. 
"What  ways?" 

*'  We've  got  a   bang-up   system   of  garages," 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Smith  answered  with  unabated  cheerfulness. 
"  From  Portland,  Maine,  to  Portland,  Oregon, 
we  store  and  care  for  a  good  majority  of  all  our 
rivals'  cars.  We  waste  a  lot  of  time  and  oppor- 
tunity in  doing  it  so  well." 

Wistar  was  not  unjustifiably  proud  of  these 
garages,  and  of  the  fact  that  the  service  in  them 
was  as  liberal  and  efficient  toward  the  cars  of 
American  independents  and  foreign  makers  as 
toward  their  own.  "Wasted!"  he  said.  "A 
good  part  of  our  earnings  we  make  off  the  cars 
of  our  rivals !  " 

"  But  suppose  we  gave  our  own  cars  the  prefer- 
ence? Wouldn't  the  public  find  that  the  best  of 
reasons  for  buying  them  ?  " 

In  plain  terms  this  meant  that  work  on  the  cars 
of  their  rivals  should  be  delayed,  scamped  and 
overcharged.  Nothing  so  disgusts  a  motorist  with 
his  machine  as  to  have  it  make  long  sojourns  in 
the  shop,  followed  by  big  bills  and  a  speedy  re- 
turn of  disaster.  "  I  am  as  eager  as  any  man  to 
win  out  in  this  fight,"  Wistar  answered.  "  But 
the  only  policy  that  will  succeed  in  the  long  run  is 
the  policy  of  fairness  and  liberality.  Who  will 
get  the  black  eye,  I  should  like  to  know,  if  the 
public  finds  us  out!  " 

"If  we  can't  trust  our  own  managers  not  to 
peach  on  us,"  said  Smith  with  cool  insolence, 
"  there's  something  rotten  in  your  management." 

221 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  You  are  aware,  I  suppose,"  said  Wistar,  his 
voice  falling  and  deepening  as  his  anger  rose, 
"  that  in  spirit  what  you  propose  is  identical  with 
all  that  is  most  noxious  in  trust  management — 
secret  rebates,  secret  price  schedules,  and  all  other 
devices  of  predatory  competition !  " 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  what  you  call 
spirit,"  Smith  retorted.  "  There  is  no  law  that 
compels  us  to  favor  the  cars  of  our  rivals,  and 
there  is  every  reason  why  we  should  not  favor 
them." 

"  Favor  them !  Why  not  put  sand  in  their 
bearings  and  soap  in  their  carburetors?" 

"  Not  a  bad  idea !  "  Smith  laughed.  Then  he 
added,  in  the  tone  of  compliment,  "  You  would 
make  an  excellent  manager  if  you  put  your  mind 
to  it." 

Wistar  smiled  grimly.  "  Excellent  or  not,  I 
am  the  manager.  And  in  this  matter  /  decide !  " 

Billy  growled  approval. 

"I  object!"  Smith  cried,  his  cheery  good 
humor  vanishing.  "  You  are  our  chairman,  not 
our  kindergarten  lady.  You  have  no  power  ex- 
cept what  we  delegate  to  you !  " 

The  terms  upon  which  he  had  entered  the  com- 
bination had  been  different,  and  it  was  now  that 
Wistar  looked  to  find  the  Penrhyn  he  had  known 
in  the  squash  court. 

"  In  the  matter  of  the  garages,"  Penrhyn  said, 
222 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"I  guess  we'll  have  to  give  Wistar  his  head."  And 
Smith  was  obliged  to  acquiesce.  Then  Penrhyn 
added :  "  But  it's  different  with  the  dividend. 
That  concerns  the  financial  end.  I  make  it  a 
motion." 

As  chairman  of  the  committee  Wistar  was 
obliged  to  put  the  motion,  and  the  votes  were 
three  to  one. 

It  is  an  approved  Machiavellian  precept  to  con- 
cede what  you  have  to  gracefully,  so  as  to  make 
the  concession  a  sugar-coating  for  the  pill  of  suc- 
cessful coercion.  Wistar  perceived  that  there 
were  two  Penrhyns — one  for  polite  conversation, 
and  one  for  things  that  mattered. 

In  announcing  the  dividend  to  the  public  Pen- 
rhyn resorted  to  a  useful  bit  of  jugglery.  He 
spread  the  report  that  Wistar  was  intending  to 
reduce  it,  and  then  sprung  the  increase  as  a  sur- 
prise. In  the  resulting  fluctuations  in  the  stock, 
Wistar  had  every  reason  to  believe,  Penrhyn 
turned  a  pretty  penny.  The  incident  took  added 
significance  when  Wistar  got  his  first  reports 
from  the  rubber  country.  All  signs  portended 
that  some  one  was  trying  to  engross  the  industry, 
and,  moreover,  was  straining  his  resources  to 
do  so. 

The  polo  championship  was  now  well  under 
way,  but  Wistar  saw  that  there  was  little  to  probe 
in  the  character  of  his  associate.  He  was  con- 

223 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

vinced,  in  fact,  that  with  the  expiration  of  his  term 
of  office  he  would  have  to  fight  for  reelection. 
There  were  two  ways  of  fighting.  One  was  to 
form  -a  fraction  of  stockholders  to  support  him 
and  his  policy.  This  was  a  slow,  difficult  and  deli- 
cate matter,  and  one  in  which  he  could  not  go  far 
without  publicly  accusing  his  associate.  The  other 
way  was  to  increase  his  holdings  of  stock. 
Though  chief  shareholder,  he  was  far  from  own- 
ing a  majority.  He  at  once  instructed  his  broker 
to  buy  in  all  he  could  without  running  up  the  price, 
and  furthermore,  to  negotiate  with  such  of  his  cus- 
tomers as  might  be  willing  for  a  consideration  to 
part  with  their  holdings. 

Among  these  the  broker  mentioned  a  pictur- 
esque and  anomalous  person  with  wild  eyes  and 
red  trimmings  to  his  face  who  had  invested  two 
thousand  dollars  on  margin  when  the  securities 
were  first  listed  on  the  Stock  Exchange.  Wistar 
named  him  at  once — H.  Desmond  Andrews;  and 
the  broker  laughed  at  the  memory  of  the  H.  Des- 
mond. 

One  by  one  he  was  completing  the  chain  of  cir- 
cumstance which  bound  Penrhyn  to  this  man,  con- 
victing him  of  gross  dishonor.  As  yet  he  felt  that 
he  was  not  justified  in  using  his  evidence  to  dis- 
credit his  rival,  even  privately,  among  the  direct- 
ors and  stockholders.  But  he  left  no  stone  un- 
turned to  complete  it,  and  to  this  end  employed 

224 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

a  detective  agency  to  keep  close  watch  on  An- 
drews. 

During  the  early  games  of  the  polo  champion- 
ship, he  often  saw  Judith  in  the  crowds  of  the 
clubhouse  verandas,  and  as  often  he  thought,  not 
without  satisfaction,  that  to  her  eyes  at  least  the 
evidence  already  at  hand  would  be  sufficient.  But 
could  he  tell  her?  Not  though  the  happiness  of 
her  life  hung  in  the  balance — then  least  of  all. 
Could  he  even  bring  her  his  excuse  for  the  mistake 
of  that  fatal  night  with  regard  to  her  father — 
whose  duty  it  had  been  to  tell  her?  He  puzzled 
his  mind  for  days  over  this  case  in  casuistry.  But 
in  his  heart  he  always  knew  that  he  could  not  be 
a  bearer  of  tales.  And  the  conviction  was  grow- 
ing on  him  that  in  spite  of  all  appearances  her 
father  had  not  been  guiltless. 

And  so  it  came  to  the  deciding  game  of  the 
championship  series. 


225 


I 


CHAPTER   XXV 

F  Penrhyn  had  shared  Wistar's  desire 
for  better  acquaintance  he  could  not 
have  done  more  to  satisfy  it.  Through 
the  earlier  periods  of  the  game,  he 
had  played  second  forward  for  Willowbrook,  and 
with  unfailing  alertness  and  dash;  but  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  final  period  the  score  was  a  tie  and  he 
shifted  to  first  forward.  This  brought  him  face 
to  face  with  Wistar,  whose  steadiness  and  brain 
work  had  made  him  captain  and  back  of  the  Cedar- 
top  four. 

The  natural  inference  was  that  Willowbrook 
had  staked  their  chances  of  victory  on  new  tactics; 
but  during  the  previous  interval  Wistar  had  seen 
Penrhyn  ride  up  to  the  brilliant  crowd  beyond  the 
edge  board,  and  speak  to  a  young  woman  in  whom 
for  the  first  time  he  recognized  Judith.  Was  it 
possible  that  the  man  had  paid  him  the  compli- 
ment of  jealousy?  The  world  of  sport  has  little 
esteem  for  what  it  calls  the  grand-stand  player. 
Wistar  could  have  wished  Judith  a  thousand  miles 

226 


THE     C  A  V  E     MAN 

away,  and  he  cursed  the  luck  that  had  given  him 
the  glimpse  of  her  face,  alight  with  the  excitement 
of  the  contest,  and  prettily  framed  in  a  billowy  boa 
of  white  feathers,  thrown  about  her  shoulders  in 
defense  against  the  cool  wind  that  was  blowing 
in  from  the  ocean. 

At  a  crisis  like  the  present,  in  a  game  as  rapid 
as  polo,  anything  may  happen.  The  losing  team 
will  stop  at  nothing  in  the  hope  of  a  goal;  and 
both  sides,  reserving  their  best  ponies  for  the  last, 
are  mounted  on  the  handiest,  hardiest,  fleetest  and 
most  spirited  horseflesh,  of  fourteen  hands,  that 
the  world  affords.  And  such  are  the  varying  for- 
tunes of  the  game,  that  in  a  few  minutes  of  play 
goals  have  been  known  to  come  as  if  from  a  rapid- 
fire  gun. 

Penrhyn  had  now  mounted  a  black  Algerian 
barb,  Sirocco,  trained  on  Mediterranean  polo 
fields,  for  which  he  had  paid  upward  of  three 
thousand  dollars.  It  was  a  huge  pony,  that  would 
strain  every  finger  of  fourteen  hands,  and  its  wide 
eyes  bespoke  as  much  of  intelligence  as  ever  gets 
into  an  equine  skull.  It  had  courage,  too,  to  stand 
up  against  the  fiercest  scrimmage,  and  its  speed  in 
the  open  was  unexcelled. 

Wistar's  mount  was  named  Jenny,  which  name 
she  had  brought  with  the  brand  on  her  flank  from 
a  Texas  range.  Jenny  was,  however,  a  perfect 
lady,  and  in  Wistar's  fond  esteem  the  best  polo 

227 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

pony  he  had  ever  owned,  or  known.  True,  he 
had  read  of  better  animals,  and  notably  a  heroine 
of  fiction  who  was  not  only  familiar  with  the  tac- 
tics of  team  play  and  kept  the  score  in  mind 
but  acted  as  leader  of  her  quadruped  mates,  and 
would  probably  have  advised  the  famous  player 
and  captain  who  rode  her  if  his  understanding 
had  been  quite,  instead  of  almost,  equine.  But 
Wistar  was  skeptical.  He  had  himself  frequently 
had  occasion  in  the  thick  of  a  rapidly  shifting 
contest  to  make  sure  how  the  score  stood  by  a 
glance  at  the  dangling  tally  balls.  There  were, 
in  fact,  only  two  points  on  w7hich  he  trusted  Jenny 
implicitly.  One  was  to  be  fond  of  sugar,  and 
stand  by  the  man  who  gave  it  to  her;  and  the 
other  was  to  follow  the  ball.  He  suspected  the 
tasteful  little  lady,  in  fact,  of  laboring  under  the 
illusion  that  the  three-inch  sphere  of  white  was 
an  extra  delectable  lump;  but,  whatever  the  pecul- 
iarities of  her  horse  sense,  she  scampered  after 
it  with  the  eager  endurance  of  a  terrier,  and  the 
speed  of  a  greyhound;  and  that  was  all  he  asked 
of  Jenny. 

The  only  chance  of  snatching  the  victory  was 
by  the  hardest  riding  and  the  most  accurate  team 
play.  But  Wistar  had  even  more  to  contend  with 
than  he  feared.  Penrhyn,  again  his  opposite,  was 
plunging  his  spurs  with  every  turn  deep  into 
Sirocco's  velvet  flank,  already  covered  with  blood, 

228 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

and  was  charging  the  heavy  animal  hither  and  yon 
like  a  madman.  The  trick  of  riding*  an  opponent 
off,  which  looks  so  dangerous  from  the  clubhouse, 
is  in  reality  the  safest  of  maneuvers.  You  have 
only  to  slip  alongside  your  man,  lock  the  shoulder 
of  your  horse  forward  of  his  saddle,  and  you  can 
swerve  him  as  if  by  a  hand  on  his  bridle.  But 
that  maneuvre  is  as  difficult  as  it  is  safe.  Time 
and  again,  in  the  play  that  followed,  Penrhyn 
came  at  Wistar  full  speed  at  an  angle  of  forty 
degrees,  dashing  Sirocco's  powerful  and  pointed 
shoulder  into  Jenny's  side.  Such  tactics  are  cal- 
culated to  throw  a  fright  into  any  but  the  steadi- 
est— horse  and  man;  and  the  only  condition  of 
success  is  that  the  umpire  shall  be  lax,  or  not 
looking. 

"  If  you  do  that  again,"  Wistar  cried,  "  I'll 
demand  the  penalty  of  a  foul!  " 

"  Why  not  take  your  doll-rags  and  go  home?  " 
Penrhyn  asked,  sweeping  by.  "  This  game  is 
polo!" 

There  are  football  players  who  regard  it  as 
the  game  to  slug  an  opponent,  knee  him,  or  twist 
his  neck,  provided  the  chance  of  being  penalized  is 
less  than  the  chance  of  putting  him  out  of  the 
game;  and  players  of  a  similar  conviction  are  not 
unknown  in  polo.  It  is  all  a  question  of  whether 
one  prefers  to  live  by  the  traditions  of  sportsmen 
or  the  letter  of  the  rules. 

229 


T  H  P:     CAVE     MAN 

In  another  minute,  as  Jenny  bounded  after  the 
ball,  Penrhyn  repeated  the  assault.  The  only  de- 
fense against  such  play  is  the  defense  offensive. 
Reining  up  at  an  angle,  Wistar  broke  the  shock 
upon  the  faithful  Jenny  by  opposing  his  own  lean, 
pointed  knee  against  Penrhyn's  thigh. 

"Ouch!"  said  Penrhyn;  and  Sirocco  faltered 
at  the  unexpected  impact. 

Jenny's  strong  point  was  quickness  and  certainty 
on  her  feet.  She  fairly  leaped  from  the  collision 
and  dodged  across  the  field  after  the  spherical 
lump  of  sugar,  overtaking  it  near  the  edge  board. 
There  was  an  opening  to  score,  and  Wistar  seized 
it.  With  a  clean  forward  draw  he  played  the 
ball  into  position  for  a  try  at  goal,  and  Jenny  fol- 
lowed it  with  hoof  beats  that  sent  the  turf  flying. 

Wistar's  comrades  did  not  fail  him.  One  after 
another  they  rode  off  three  of  the  enemy,  while 
he  swung  at  a  gallop  into  position  for  the  stroke. 
The  end  of  the  game  was  at  hand,  but  it  was  only 
a  matter  of  seconds  to  snatch  the  victory. 

Penrhyn,  disconcerted  by  the  unexpected  shock, 
had  wisely  refrained  from  following  Wistar's  first 
dash,  and  now,  burying  his  spur  in  Sirocco's  bleed- 
ing flank  with  every  stride,  he  galloped  straight 
down  the  field  at  the  ball,  converging  upon  Wistar 
at  a  broad  angle.  It  was  a  neck-and-neck  race 
for  the  victory.  Wistar  saw  him  out  of  the  tail 
of  his  eye,  and  Jenny  saw  him  too,  for  she  dug 

230 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

her  little  hoofs  into  the  turf  as  she  had  never  dug 
them  before.  Twenty-three  seconds  flat  was  her 
mark  for  the  quarter,  and  she  was  in  the  full 
swing  of  her  best  pace.  She  kept  even  with  the 
stallion,  stride  for  stride. 

As  long  as  she  did  so  it  was,  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  game,  Wistar's  ball.  To  the  goal  was 
a  drive  of  seventy  yards,  but  he  had  done  better 
a  score  of  times;  and  his  nerve  was  never  as  steady 
as  when  his  blood  was  boiling.  And  it  was  boil- 
ing now,  for  as  Sirocco  swept  on,  closing  the  angle 
between  them  with  greyhound  strides,  he  saw  the 
blood  flying  from  the  raw  spot  left  by  the  inces- 
sant spur. 

Nearer  and  nearer  the  two  horses  swept,  until 
Penrhyn  so  narrowly  threatened  a  collision  that 
even  the  other  players  rose  in  their  stirrups  in 
anxiety.  Wistar  feared  a  foul — and  then  dis- 
missed the  fear:  his  rival's  game  was  to  fluster 
him  and  frighten  Jenny  with  a  threatened  tumble. 
In  a  stride  or  two  Penrhyn  would  have  to  swerve, 
or  foul  him  openly  and  flagrantly.  The  thought 
steadied  him.  Jenny  could  not  have  this  comfort, 
and  already  to-day  had  suffered  many  a  rude  shock; 
but  with  pluck  undaunted  she  held  her  course  firm 
and  true,  and  never  abated  her  stride  until  Wistar 
threw  the  lines  on  her  neck.  Then,  at  this  signal 
for  the  stroke,  she  slackened  into  an  even,  steady 
gallop. 

231 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

As  Wistar  raised  his  stick,  he  heard  Sirocco's 
hoof  beats — now  at  his  very  side — still  regular, 
firm,  and  quick  as  ever.  His  heart  leaped,  but 
his  shoulder  swung  true.  Then  came  a  blow  from 
the  side  that  lifted  Jenny  off  her  feet.  In  another 
instant  both  horses  and  their  riders  were  hurled 
together  along  the  turf. 

Penrhyn  swung  free  of  the  saddle ;  but  Wistar, 
who  had  held  his  eye  throughout  steadily  fixed 
upon  the  ball,  felt  the  hot  lathered  sides  of  Jenny 
rolling  over  him,  and  the  crushing  weight  of  both 
horses. 

He  was  awakened  by  the  first  dash  of  water  on 
his  face,  and  raising  his  head  he  saw  the  ball, 
lying  where  it  had  lain. 

"  A  duhrty  trick,  a  sthinkin'  Irish  trick,"  said 
Wistar's  groom,  as  he  splashed  the  water.  "  His 
horse  is  the  better  gintleman." 

The  umpire  had  pressed  through  the  crowd  of 
dismounted  players.  "  Have  you  anything  to 
say?  "  Wistar  managed  to  ask. 

"  In  my  official  capacity,  only  that  the  play  was 
a  foul,  and  that  Cedartop  has  a  free  try  for  goal." 

Wistar  struggled  to  his  feet,  and  called  for  a 
new  mount.  There  was  a  knifelike  pain  inside 
him,  and  his  head  was  swimming;  but  Penrhyn 
was  by,  speaking  words  of  plausible  apology.  He 
stepped  into  the  saddle,  and  no  one  offered  to  dis- 
suade him.  Then  he  rode  out  to  the  ball,  and 

232 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Penrhyn  faced  him,  at  the  prescribed  ten  yards. 
The  two  looked  at  each  other  quite  as  if  nothing 
had  happened. 

Shooting  a  goal  in  the  heat  of  play,  at  the  full, 
easy  swing  of  the  gallop  and  with  a  clear  field 
in  front  is  one  thing,  and  a  sitting  shot  in  the  face 
of  four  opponents,  accurately  placed  and  alert, 
is  quite  another.  It  was  for  this  difference,  be- 
yond question,  that  Penrhyn  had  ventured.  Only 
a  miracle  now  could  save  the  game — and  the  cham- 
pionship. 

The  fall  had  unsteadied  Wistar's  nerves.  He 
paused  before  the  stroke,  and  swept  his  eye  slowly 
about  the  field.  There  were  people  there — he  had 
not  half  realized  how  many.  They  seemed 
strangely  hushed.  Beyond  was  a  low-lying  Eng- 
lish house,  its  half-timber  sides  showing  faintly 
through  a  mantling  growth  of  ivy,  and  its  roof 
bowered  in  elm  trees.  It  looked  very  peaceful. 
On  the  horizon  was  a  flake  of  quiet  blue,  where 
the  Atlantic  lay  serenely,  as  if  in  the  lap  of  two 
sand  dunes.  Wistar  almost  forgot  the  pain  that 
was  knifing  his  vitals.  Then  he  closed  his  eyes 
half  a  moment,  and  remembered.  Once  he  had 
faced  an  unbeaten  eleven  in  blue,  when  all  the 
fellows  looked  to  him  and  his  comrades  .  .  .  He 
didn't  feel  the  pain  at  all  now. 

Opening  his  eyes,  he  gauged  the  lie  of  the  ball, 
and  the  length  of  his  stick.  Then  he  lifted  his 
1C  233 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

arm  above  his  head,  and  brought  it  downward, 
swinging  it  firm  but  relaxed  upon  the  pivot  of 
his  shoulder.  He  hit  hard  and  true,  and  as  the 
sound  was  heard  across  the  silent  field,  Penrhyn 
rose  in  his  stirrup  to  block  the  ball.  It  soared 
free  above  his  head,  flying  straight  for  the  goal. 
Half  way  in  its  course  it  fell  upon  the  turf, 
bounded  once  or  twice,  and  then  rolled  slowly  and 
more  slowly.  Once  again  there  was  the  scurrying 
of  ponies,  Cedartop  galloping  to  protect  the  ball 
in  its  course,  Willowbrook  to  check  it.  The  ad- 
vantage of  position  lay  with  the  defense,  and  five 
yards  from  the  fatal  line  the  Willowbrook  back 
overtook  the  ball  and  swung  his  stick  for  a  back 
hander. 

Thus  far  the  instinct  of  the  game  had  carried 
him;  but  now  he  paused,  with  his  stick  held  high 
in  air,  and  to  the  amazement  of  the  multitude, 
rode  on,  side  by  side  with  the  ball.  At  the  goal 
line  the  white  sphere  hopped  into  the  air,  and 
then  lay  still,  scarcely  a  yard  beyond.  The  gen- 
erosity of  the  sportsman  had  risen  above  the  zeal 
of  the  partisan.  It  was  as  if  he  had  presented  to 
Wistar  the  victory  so  fairly  won.  It  was  not  "  the 
game  ";  but  sportsmanship  it  was. 

The  crowd  read  his  purpose  like  a  flash,  and 
from  four  sides  burst  forth  an  acclaiming  shout. 

Wistar's  first  thought  was  of  Jenny — whether 
she  was  suffering  too,  poor  lady.  He  found  her 

234 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

by  an  automobile,  companionably  nosing  a  young 
woman  in  a  white  feather  boa — having  evidently 
led  the  indulgent  groom  there  for  that  purpose. 
Wistar  rode  up  and  asked  if  she  was  hurt. 

"  Sure  she's  fresh  as  a  daisy.  How  is  it  with 
yourself,  sir,  may  I  be  asking?" 

"  Oh,  I  do  hope  you  are  not  injured!  "  Judith 
exclaimed.  "  It  was  very  rough  play;  but  you 
deserved  to  win,  and  we're  so  glad  you  did  win !  " 

Penrhyn  cantered  up  to  them.  "  My  dear  man ! 
My  dear  man !  "  he  said.  "  I  did  my  best  to  hold 
the  beast,  but  he  was  mad  with  excitement." 

"  Howld  him !  Look  at  his  flank !  "  said 
Wistar's  groom.  But  he  knew  his  place,  and  he 
said  it  under  his  breath. 

"  You  were  wrong,  Stanley,"  Judith  was  say- 
ing, "  very  wrong,  ever  to  think  of  riding  so,  on 
such  an  animal!  " 

Jenny  was  still  nosing  the  white  feathers. 

"  She  thinks  they  may  be  sugar,"  Wistar  apol- 
ogized. "  When  I  changed  mounts,  I  forgot  to 
give  her  the  lump  she  expected."  He  reached 
into  his  pocket  and  found  nothing  but  powdered 
granules.  Jenny  herself  had  crushed  the  last 
domino.  "  Poor  old  girl,"  he  said,  stroking  her 
mobile  nose,  "  did  we  make  you  spoil  your  own 
sugar?  Never  mind!  There's  more  in  the  locker." 
And  taking  the  bridle  from  the  groom  he  led  her 
away. 

235 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

It  was  a  fortunate  pretext,  for  the  knife  inside 
him  kept  turning,  and  the  white  feathers  spread 
before  his  vision,  filling  it,  from  the  green  of  the 
grass  to  the  blue  of  the  zenith,  with  what  now 
seemed  to  him  wavering  lumps  of  sugar. 


236 


H 


CHAPTER    XXVI 

OW  many  weeks  that  pain  lasted  Wis- 
tar  did  not  know.  Through  the  long 
days  and  longer  nights  of  his  fever  a 
single  idea  haunted  him,  obsessed  him. 
Sooner  or  later  he  would  have  to  lock  horns  with 
Penrhyn  in  a  final  struggle  for  control  of  the  com- 
bination ;  and  there  was  more  than  an  even  chance, 
he  foreboded,  that  in  that  struggle  he  would  be 
defeated,  and  Minot  and  others  of  his  kind  ground 
under  foot.  In  such  an  event  he  saw  but  one  re- 
course, and  that  the  blackest — to  quit  the  trust 
and  join  the  weaker  faction  in  the  fight  for  de- 
cency and  law.  That  he  would  be  able  to  wreck 
the  combination  he  had  little  doubt.  He  had 
made  its  strength,  and  better  than  anyone  else 
he  knew  its  weakness.  It  was  to  avoid  such  a  fight 
that  he  had  entered  it,  and  the  result  of  all  he  had 
done  would  be  to  aggravate  his  plight.  To 
plunge  Judith's  father  from  hope  to  despair 
would  have  been  bad  enough;  but  his  heart  grew 
sick  at  the  thought  of  what  it  would  mean  to  dash 
him  from  success  and  power  to  ruin.  She  had 

237 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

called  him  the  cave  man,  and  accused  him  of  seek- 
ing to  fell  them  all  with  his  club.  As  his  fever 
mounted  and  the  pain  in  his  side  cut  deeper  the 
idea  grew  on  him  that  he  might  have  to  do  just 
this. 

One  evening  he  awoke  with  a  sense  of  physical 
relief.  The  pain  was  no  longer  inside.  It  was 
outside,  in  soft  linen  bandages.  He  was  suffering 
from  a  horrible  nausea,  and  his  tongue  was  so 
thick  that  he  could  utter  nothing;  but  little  by  lit- 
tle his  mind  cleared,  and  he  recalled  with  terror 
a  nightmare  under  which  he  had  been  laboring — 
recalled  it  with  terror  and  relief,  for  he  now  knew 
that  it  was  only  a  nightmare.  Judith  had  lain 
dying  in  a  dingy  hall  bedroom,  her  struggle 
against  poverty  ended;  and  as  she  saw  him  she 
looked  upon  him  as  the  author  of  her  fate,  and 
turned  her  eyes,  pitiful  and  full  of  hatred  as  he 
had  never  seen  them  in  life,  toward  the  tawdry 
wall.  A  beam  of  watery  sunshine,  struggling  in, 
brought  the  glints  to  her  hair,  though  palely. 
Then,  of  a  sudden,  he  had  seen  a  clot  of  crim- 
son, where  she  had  got  the  wound  of  which 
she  was  dying  —  a  blow  from  the  cave  man's 
club. 

He  opened  his  eyes  to  expel  the  agonizing 
vision,  and  saw  by  his  bedside  a  woman  in 
striped  gown,  white  apron  and  cap.  Then  he  un- 
derstood. It  was  a  long  time  before  he  could 

238 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

speak,  but  at  last  he  asked  her  thickly:  "  Did  you 
have  to  go  in  far?  What  did  you  find?  " 

"  We  went  in  so  far,"  the  nurse  said  cheerily, 
"  that  we  saw  the  tail  feathers  of  your  soul." 
Her  theology  was  orthodox,  in  spite  of  a  rigidly 
scientific  training.  "  But  we  sewed  you  up  tight 
so  there's  no  chance  of  its  flying  away  this  time." 

Wistar  smiled.  "  What  did  you  find  was  the 
matter — before  you  sewed  it  up?  " 

"  There  was  a  bow  of  blue  ribbon  on  it,"  she 
said,  "  and  it  had  come  untied."  One  doesn't  al- 
low a  patient's  mind  to  dwell  on  the  details  of 
his  malady. 

Wistar  was  silent  a  long  time  and  then,  "  Blue 
ribbon?  "  he  asked. 

"  Baby  blue — it  was  a  pure  soul.  We  tied  it  up 
neatly  in  a  love  knot." 

"  I  should  have  preferred  a  square  bow,"  he 
said. 

"  It's  a  spell  we  laid  with  the  love  knot — so 
now  your  sweetheart  can't  lose  you." 

He  thought  of  Judith.  "  I'm  afraid,"  he  said 
sadly,  "  that  the  operation  will  not  prove  success- 
ful." 

The  nurse  did  not  understand.  "  In  two 
months,"  she  said,  "  you  will  be  on  your  feet 
again." 

Two  months!  His  old  fears  swarmed  back  on 
him.  Glancing  about,  he  recognized  Billy  and 

239 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Minot  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed.  "  Hello !  " 
he  said.  "  I  must  see  you  fellows  on  business." 
At  the  word  they  faded  into  darkness. 

Then  the  nurse  said,  "  Hush !  Go  to  sleep !  " 
and  stroked  the  fine,  lank  hair  on  his  forehead. 
He  went  to  sleep,  but  in  his  dreams  he  was  fight- 
ing a  fight  in  which  there  was  a  most  perplexed 
mingling  of  motor  cars  and  ponies.  And  the  prize 
was  a  white  feather  boa. 


240 


A 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

LMOST  before  he  recovered  from  the 
nausea  of  ether  Wistar  took  advan- 
tage of  the  telephone  by  his  bedside 
to  get  in  touch  with  the  affairs  of  the 
combination — at  first  surreptitiously,  when  the 
nurse  for  a  moment  had  left  him  apparently  sleep- 
ing, and  then  with  her  enforced  consent.  It 
proved  as  he  feared.  He  called  up  his  agencies 
one  by  one,  as  far  as  St.  Louis  and  Omahaj  and 
by  a  few  leading  questions  ascertained  that  Pen- 
rhyn  and  Smith  had  assumed  his  office  and  were 
already  introducing  their  methods. 

Minot  was  soon  a  frequent  visitor,  and  he  elic- 
ited from  him  similar  intelligence.  Penrhyn  was 
using  the  power  of  the  combination  to  fight  the  in- 
dependents with  the  well-known  tactics  of  preda- 
tory competition.  There  was  strong  evidence  that 
he  was  even  preparing  to  infringe  on  Minot's 
patent,  relying  on  the  power  of  money  and  the 
technicalities  of  the  law  to  protect  him.  And  the 
ultimate  end  of  it  all,  as  was  becoming  clearer 
and  clearer  in  the  reports  from  South  America, 

241 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

was  to  gain  a  virtual  monopoly  of  the  industry 
throughout  the  world. 

Before  his  accident  Wistar  had  had  hopes  of 
being  able  to  control  the  coming  election  of  offi- 
cers. For  weeks  he  had  been  quietly  increasing 
his  holdings  of  stock.  Now  he  had  a  stock  ticker 
installed  in  his  bedroom,  and  day  by  day  directed 
his  campaign  by  telephone.  He  was  powerfully 
aided  here  by  the  very  seriousness  of  his  illness, 
for  Wall  Street  in  general,  and  Penrhyn  in  par- 
ticular, had  grown  accustomed  to  regard  him  as 
out  of  the  running.  The  surgeons,  with  profes- 
sional conservatism,  had  understated  the  chance 
of  his  recovery. 

To  make  success  secure  and  indubitable,  how- 
ever, he  felt  that  it  was  necessary  to  gain  strong 
adherents  among  the  stockholders.  And  here  his 
illness  crippled  him  far  more  than  it  helped  him 
in  his  operation  in  the  market.  One  may  buy  or 
sell  by  telephone  anything  from  a  paper  of  pins 
to  a  billion-dollar  trust;  but  corporation  politics  is 
a  matter  of  personal  contact  and  influence.  A  few 
of  the  stockholders  he  knew  well,  and  when  he 
called  them  up  they  were  sympathetic,  and  agreed 
to  stand  by  him.  But  somehow  he  felt  they  were 
influenced  less  by  their  reason  and  personal  pref- 
erence than  by  consideration  for  his  illness.  With 
a  great  majority,  even  of  the  largest  stockholders, 
he  was  unacquainted.  Time  and  again  he  tried 

242 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

to  imagine  himself  urging  his  cause  into  a  vul- 
canite receiver,  but  he  only  succeeded  in  appear- 
ing in  his  own  eyes  what  is  known  as  a  squealer, 
and  perhaps  also  a  prig.  Penrhyn  had  broken  a 
personal  pledge;  but  what  was  this  to  the  world 
of  finance?  Penrhyn  was  breaking  the  law  in 
spirit  and  in  letter,  but  could  he  convince  a 
stranger  of  this  fact,  or  of  its  enormity,  in  brief 
and  half-audible  conversation  over  the  wire? 

As  he  lay  prostrate  beneath  the  pain  of  the  half- 
healed  gash  in  his  side  his  mind  was  feverishly 
active;  but  there  was  little  or  nothing  he  could 
do  to  commend  himself  as  the  exponent  of  a  vig- 
orous and  successful  administration;  and  espe- 
cially as  his  rivals  had,  as  his  friends  had  some- 
what darkly  intimated,  taken  advantage  of  his 
plight  to  make  their  canvass  first.  Though  Pen- 
rhyn had  failed  in  his  primary  purpose  in  their 
encounter  at  polo,  he  had  succeeded  admirably 
in  this  matter,  which  was  of  vastly  greater  mo- 
ment. 

In  this  crisis  Wistar  felt  himself  forced  to  meas- 
ures of  desperation.  His  financial  resources,  he 
felt  sure,  were  greater  than  Penrhyn  was  aware. 
Vast  as  is  the  publicity  which,  in  this  curious 
American  democracy,  attaches  to  wealth,  there  are 
many  large  fortunes  which  are  listed  in  no  almanac, 
and  of  which  the  writer  of  Sunday-newspaper 
specials  has  never  heard,  though  now  and  again 

243 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

the  settlement  of  an  estate  or  the  exigencies  of  a 
combat  in  Wall  Street  makes  them  known.  Such 
was  the  fortune  which  Wistar  had  inherited,  and 
which  he  had  vastly  increased  by  able  merchan- 
dizing and  wise  investment.  In  behalf  of  the 
industry  which  for  two  years  he  had  held  in  his 
own  ten  fingers,  and  which  was  his  one  real  in- 
terest in  life,  he  was  willing  to  risk  his  last  dol- 
lar if  need  be;  but  even  at  that  he  was  finally 
reduced  to  an  expedient  which  in  the  old  days  he 
would  not  have  thought  possible  to  him — he  be- 
gan making  his  purchases  on  margin.  When  it 
became  necessary  to  vote  the  stock  he  would  be 
about  again,  and  hoped  to  induce  his  bankers  to 
complete  the  purchase  for  him. 

It  was  not  a  new  experience.  Once  a  doctrin- 
ary  trust-buster,  he  had  become  the  heart  and  soul 
of  a  gigantic  consolidation;  and  the  result  had 
been  to  awaken  in  him  large  ambitions — ambi- 
tions that  differed  from  those  of  Penrhyn  and 
Sears  only  in  being  patient  where  theirs  were 
headlong,  straightforward  where  theirs  were  de- 
vious, solidly  patriotic  where  theirs  were  vision- 
ary or  rapacious.  Now,  laboring  in  a  life-or-death 
struggle  for  honor  and  righteous  power,  he  took 
up  with  methods  which  he  had  always  abhorred 
as  the  invention  of  the  stock-speculator  and  the 
predatory  manipulator  of  markets.  By  so  doing 
he  multiplied  many  times  his  purchasing  power, 

244 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

so  that  he  was  able  to  double,  perhaps  to  treble, 
the  holdings  of  any  of  his  associates. 

It  is  true  that  in  this  he  took  no  great  risk. 
Large  as  his  purchases  had  been,  they  had  been 
so  skillfully  distributed  over  so  many  weeks  that 
they  had  advanced  the  price  of  securities  by  a  very 
few  points.  If  he  won  there  might  be  a  slight 
reaction;  but  with  the  situation  in  his  own  hands 
there  would  be  no  permanent  loss.  If  he  failed 
to  secure  control  he  would  be  the  first  to  know  it, 
and  so  have  the  drop  on  the  market  when  it  came 
time  to  sell.  In  the  matter  of  mere  dollars  he  was, 
in  fact,  virtual  master  of  the  situation.  He  had 
been  accustomed  to  say  that  the  big  men  of  Wall 
Street  played  with  marked  cards,  with  loaded 
dice.  Well,  that  was  just  what  he  was  doing  now. 

If  he  had  any  twinges  of  conscience  at  back- 
sliding from  his  strait-laced  ideals  they  were 
silenced  by  the  fact  that  there  was  only  one  other 
course  open  to  him — to  abandon  the  combination 
and  range  himself  against  it  with  Minot  and  the 
rest  of  the  independents.  That  he  was  unwilling 
to  contemplate,  for  not  to  mention  the  new  am- 
bitions of  the  past  two  years,  it  meant  that  he  must 
work  that  very  injury  to  Judith  to  avoid  which  he 
had  joined  the  combination. 

Yet  great  as  was  his  wealth  it  became  gradually 
evident  that,  even  at  the  most  liberal  estimate  of 
the  aid  he  might  command  from  his  friends  and 

245 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

his  bankers,  it  was  not  great  enough.  The  securi- 
ties of  American  Motor  were  valued  by  the  hun- 
dreds, not  tens  of  millions.  Whether  by  hook  or 
by  crook,  it  was  presently  manifest  that  he  would 
not  be  able  to  secure  enough  stock  to  control  the 
approaching  election  of  officers. 

When  the  outlook  was  darkest,  however,  for- 
tune placed  in  his  hands  an  unexpected  resource, 
in  fact  a  trump  card.  It  had  taken  his  detectives 
only  a  few  days  to  discover  that,  while  Andrews 
was  living  in  a  manner  which  for  him  was  posi- 
tively sumptuous,  he  had  no  steady  employment 
and  no  source  of  income  beyond  the  meager  Sun- 
day gleanings  from  his  hat,  passed  in  Madison 
Square.  With  the  first  of  a  new  month,  however, 
they  saw  him  make  a  midnight  journey  to  Pen- 
rhyn's  rooms,  which  was  immediately  followed 
by  a  period  of  riotous  living.  A  single  occasion 
of  this  sort  might  be  a  coincidence;  but  when  it 
was  repeated  once  and  again  it  became  evident  that 
the  man  was  living  by  blackmail. 

The  chain  of  circumstantial  evidence  was  now 
complete  enough  to  justify  the  most  incisive  action. 
Wistar  summoned  Minot  and  dispatched  him  on 
an  errand  of  diplomacy  to  Mr.  Sears. 


246 


T 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

O  Mr.  Sears,  Wistar's  accident  and  ill- 
ness, distressing  as  it  was,  had  brought 
a  certain  sense  of  relief.  Of  his  per- 
sonal obligation  to  the  man  who  had 
made  possible  his  tardy  good  fortune  he  was 
keenly  sensible;  but  the  fact  remained  that  he 
foresaw  an  early  crisis  in  which,  as  a  business  as- 
sociate, Wistar  would  prove  difficult.  For  Sears's 
ambition  as  to  the  future  of  the  combination  in 
motors  was  bolder  than  so  conservative  a  man 
would  tolerate.  And  then  there  was  that  vaster 
vision  which  Penrhyn  had  flashed  before  him,  and 
which  in  his  imagination,  so  long  baffled  by  the 
mirage  of  wealth  and  power,  became  a  cloud  by 
day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night.  Obstacles  there 
were — when  are  there  not? — but  Penrhyn  was 
forging  ahead.  Already  he  had  organized  a 
strong  faction  among  the  board  of  directors  and 
general  stockholders  to  oust  Wistar  from  power. 
From  this  faction  Sears's  sense  of  honor  held 
him  strictly  aloof.  Yet  on  abstract  principles  he 
was  warmly  in  sympathy  with  it.  Of  all  the  asso- 
ciates he  had  ever  known,  Penrhyn  had  the  larg- 

247 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

est  outlook  and  the  liveliest  capacity  for  handling 
big  affairs.  The  captains  who  have  made  Amer- 
ican industry  what  it  is  have  not  been  remarkable 
for  devotion  to  the  cause  of  social  progress  or  for 
academic  correctness  in  personal  conduct,  but  they 
have  had  an  extraordinary  faculty  of  doing  things; 
and  as  one  who  himself  lacked  this  faculty  Sears 
had  a  vigorous  appreciation  of  its  utility. 

If  Wistar  had  "succumbed  to  his  misfortune,  as 
Sears  had  at  first  believed,  the  way  would  have 
been  quite  clear;  but  the  news  that  he  had  survived 
was  not  wholly  disconcerting,  for  when  it  came 
to  the  election  of  directors  and  officers  there  would 
still  be  valid  reason  for  his  preferring  another  ex- 
ecutive, since  he  must — a  man  with  health  un- 
impaired. 

One  circumstance,  however,  lessened  his  satis- 
faction: Penrhyn  and  Smith  had  seized  control 
of  the  practical  affairs  of  the  combination  and 
had  instantly  begun  to  tighten  its  grip  on  the 
industry — plunging  into  precisely  those  ruthless 
and  illegal  methods  from  which  they  had  prom- 
ised Wistar  to  keep  it  free.  To  Sears  this  seemed 
grossly  indecent.  From  the  outset  Penrhyn  had 
forced  him,  though  secretly,  into  devious  ways; 
and  now,  only  a  few  weeks  before  the  election  that 
would  formally  put  everything  on  a  new  basis,  he 
was  involving  him  in  a  transaction  that  could 
scarcely  fail  to  become  known.  Already,  in  fact, 

248 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Penrhyn  had  been  obliged  to  call  a  meeting  of  the 
executive  committee  to  give  formal  sanction  to  his 
assumption  of  managerial  power.  It  would  hardly 
be  possible  to  keep  the  true  state  of  affairs  from 
Billy;  and  that  meant  that  Wistar,  weak  and  ill 
as  he  was,  would  hear  of  it. 

As  a  gentleman  Sears  despised  Penrhyn.  All 
his  traditions,  his  very  nature,  rebelled  against 
thus  openly  and  flagrantly  betraying  the  man  who 
had  done  so  much  for  them.  It  had  actually 
made  him  ill,  confining  him  to  the  house — though 
here  it  was  helped  on  by  an  attack  of  inherited 
gout,  which  with  old-fashioned  propriety  he  called 
rheumatism,  and  which  he  had  augmented  by  the 
more  luxurious  life  of  the  past  two  years.  In 
consequence  of  this  illness,  Penrhyn  had  decided 
that  the  meeting  should  be  held  in  his  library — 
an  arrangement  which  Mr.  Sears  found  repug- 
nant, but  against  which  he  could  hardly  protest, 
since  in  Wistar's  absence  he  was  chairman  of  the 
committee.  In  fact  his  presence  was  necessary  for 
a  quorum. 

On  the  morning  of  the  meeting  Mrs.  Boyser 
announced  that  Minot  had  come  to  deliver  a  mes- 
sage from  Wistar.  At  the  sight  of  his  card  the 
old  man  grew  nervous  and  perplexed.  Was  it 
possible  that  Wistar  had  already  caught  wind  of 
what  was  going  on?  Almost  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, as  it  happened,  Billy  called  him  up  on  the 
17  249 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

telephone  and  confirmed  this  foreboding,  though 
in  a  manner  characteristically  casual. 

"  Wistar  wants  me  to  be  sure  to  get  there," 
the  young  man  said.  "  Have  I  time?" 

"  That  depends  upon  where  you  are." 

"  I'm  out  shopping  with  May." 

"  But  I  thought  she  went  to  try  on  her  trous- 
seau! " 

The  wedding,  long  delayed  to  complete  May's 
schooling,  was  in  fact  fixed  for  the  near  future. 

"  That's  right,"  said  Billy. 

"What?  With  her!  "  Sears  raised  one  hand 
in  dignified  horror.  "Yes!  You  must  start  at 
once!" 

Indistinct  words  came  over  the  wire,  of  which 
Sears  made  out  only  one — blushing.  '  Yes,"  he 
said  in  parental  accent,  "I  am  blushing!  And 
May  should  be." 

"  I  was  just  telling  May  /  was,"  explained 
Billy.  "She  isn't!" 

"  I'm  glad  you  have  some  modesty  between 
you!" 

"  I'm  escaping  with  what  I  have  left.  Don't 
let  them  get  down  to  business  till  I  come." 

The  old  man  hung  up  the  receiver  and  raised 
both  hands.  He  turned  to  find  Minot  on  the 
threshold,  smiling.  '  This  new  generation,"  he 
sighed.  "  Her  mother's  daughter." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know!  "  Minot  laughed.  "  We 
250 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

were  engaged  in  the  crinoline  period.  Don't  you 
remember?  "  He  reached  out  his  hands  as  if  for 
an  embrace  at  the  distance  of  a  hoopskirt.  "If 
I  were  younger  I  might  be  reconciled  to  the  mod- 
ern girl!" 

Their  manner  was  that  of  lifelong  friends — 
two  gray-haired,  boyish  cronies;  but  in  an  instant 
it  became  gravely  altered. 

"  I  came  about  that  committee  meeting,  too," 
Minot  said.  "  Somebody  got  busy  as  soon  as 
Wistar  was  done  for." 

"  Penrhyn  and  Smith  have  been  managing  af- 
fairs in  his  place." 

"  Precisely !  And  already  Penrhyn  has  re- 
versed Wistar' s  whole  policy." 

The  very  keenness  with  which  Sears  was  sensi- 
ble of  the  impropriety  of  what  Penrhyn  had  done 
made  it  impossible  to  discuss  it  with  an  outsider 
— in  fact  a  rival.  "  I'm  sorry,"  he  said,  "  if  Wis- 
tar has  been  troubled  by  any  such  suspicion." 

"  Suspicion !  What  Wistar  has  found  out  is  a 
certainty !  Exactly  what  it  amounts  to,  of  course 
he  hasn't  told  me;  but  there's  a  nigger  in  the 
woodpile,  and  the  nigger  is  Penrhyn." 

"  It's  the  European  combination — there  was 
urgent  need  of  meeting  their  aggressions  upon  us." 

"  It  is  more  than  that!  Penrhyn  is  out  for  the 
scalps  of  us  independents  here.  Already  he  has 
put  the  knife  to  my  throat." 

251 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  That  isn't  possible !  " 

"My  dear  sir,  I'm  bleeding  already!  Among 
the  rest,  he  has  gone  about  to'steal — pardon  me  if 
I  speak  the  English  language — to  steal  my  gear. 
But  I'm  not  here  to  tell  you  my  hard-luck  story — 
only  to  warn  you  that  it's  up  to  you  to  stand  by 
Wistar." 

"  Personally,  I — I — "  Sears  stammered,  and 
was  silent. 

"  Personally  you  are  a  gentleman,  my  old  and 
tried  friend,  and  pledged  in  honor  to  Wistar." 
Minot  spoke  gravely  and  kindly;  but  as  he  went 
on  his  manner  became  searching  and  significant. 
"  In  business  you  are  servant  of  a  trust,  and  a  trust 
must,  when  the  devil  drives." 

''The  devil  drives!"  Sears  assented. 

Minot  sharpened  to  the  attack.  "  If  you  peo- 
ple break  your  word  to  Wistar — you  must  know 
that  he  will  fight!  If  he  were  well — his  case  is 
a  strong  one;  by  stating  the  facts  as  they  are 
to  the  stockholders,  he  could  get  enough  votes 
and  proxies  to  stand  you  off.  But  he  is  ill  — 
his  hands  are  tied.  Unless  you  tell  them  the 
truth  —  no  doubt  Penrhyn  can  make  them  be- 
lieve what  he  pleases.  Perhaps  he  has  already 
organized  a  party?  If  he's  cut  in  ahead  of 
Wistar " 

"  I  can  scarcely  discuss  such  questions — with  an 
outside  party." 

252 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  I  must  say,  however,  that  unless  you  take 
Penrhyn  in  hand  you  will  have  to  face  scandal." 

"  Scandal!  "  the  old  gentleman  echoed. 

"  Wistar  once  accused  you  of  bribery  and  theft. 
Now  he  knows  it  was  Penrhyn." 

Sears  started  with  surprise  and  alarm. 

"  What  would  it  mean  to  Penrhyn — and  to  you ! 
— if  Wistar  were  to  publicly  expose  that  crime?  " 

"If  he  has  proof — disgrace!  Without  proof, 
such  a  charge  would  be  libel.  Did  you  say  he  had 
proof?" 

"  I  didn't  say."  Minot  laughed  dryly.  "  Here 
it's  you  who  are  the  outside  party.  But  this  much 
I  can  tell  you.  By  driving  Wistar  to  the  wall  you 
put  him  face  to  face  with  a  dangerous  alternative. 
He  wishes  you  well,  and  your  family;  but  to 
him  what  Penrhyn  is  doing  is  a  crime.  When  he 
believes  a  thing  wrong,  he  fights  it.  And  he 
can  fight,  I  tell  you !  Two  years  ago,  when  Pen- 
rhyn tricked  him  into  the  trust,  you  imagined  you 
had  disarmed  him.  You  gave  him  the  most  dan- 
gerous weapon  of  all !  Standing  as  he  does  now, 
on  the  inside  and  at  the  head  of  everything,  what 
he  says  carries  conviction — what  he  does,  au- 
thority. If  he  fights,  he  will  win.  That  will  mean 
scandal  and  ruin  to  you,  and  to  your  daughter 
poverty." 

Sears  gave  way  to  abject  terror.  "  He  intends 
that!  "  he  gasped. 

253 


THE     CAVE      MAN 

"  Not  yet !  It  was  to  avoid  it  that  he  sent  me 
here." 

Sears  lay  back  in  his  chair.  "  How  much  does 
Onderdonk  know  of  this?"  he  asked. 

"  Little  or  nothing.  It  was  to  keep  him  in  the 
dark  that  Wistar  sent  me  here.  You  have  been 
allied  with  Penrhyn  throughout — bribery,  theft, 
treachery — and  Billy  is  engaged  to  marry  your 
daughter — very  much  engaged,  it  appears!  " 

Wearily  Sears  rose  from  his  chair.  "  I'll  do  all 
an  honest  man  can,"  he  said,  taking  Minot's  hand. 

They  were  both  silent  a  moment. 

"  In  view  of  Wistar's  continued  illness,"  Sears 
added,  "  it  may  be  necessary  to  appoint  his  suc- 
cessor as  manager." 

"  But  it  is  only  a  matter  of  weeks  until  Wistar 
will  be  about  again !  " 

11  The  affairs  of  the  combination  are  very  press- 
ing.'^ 

Minot  looked  at  him  firmly.  "  That  doesn't 
sound  well  to  me.  I'm  afraid  I  can't  carry  much 
hope  to  poor  Wistar.  Only — remember!  He  is 
a  fighter,  and  this  is  a  fight  he  will  carry  to  the 
finish — no  matter  who  or  what  stands  in  his  way." 

Again  they  were  both  silent.  Presently  Judith 
came  in,  and  Minot  perceived  that  the  interview 
was  at  an  end. 


254 


j 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

UDITH1"  Minot  exclaimed,  his  an- 
cient eye  taking  in  her  youth  and 
freshness  with  delight.  "  May  I  still 
call  you  Judith?"  he  added,  as  she 
gave  him  her  hand.  "  This  old  house,  this  room, 
everything  takes  me  back — how  many? — twenty 
years.  I  called  you  Judith  then !  " 

"  My  name  is  Judith,  Uncle  F'ank'in,"  she  said, 
mimicking  a  child's  accent. 

He  laughed  at  the  memory  she  evoked.  "  Can 
you  bow  to  me  now  as  you  used  to  bow?  " 

She  took  her  skirts  in  her  fingers,  and  dipped 
him  a  girlish  courtesy.  "  I'm  seven  years  old  and 
a  half,"  she  lisped,  "  and  I'm  never  going  to  be 
married !  "  He  laughed,  and  then  she  added  in 
her  older  manner:  "  You  see  I  haven't  been!  And 
I'm  an  old  maid.  To-morrow  is  my  birthday — 
thirty!" 

Minot  turned  slyly  to  Sears.  "  Won't  any- 
body have  her?"  he  whispered  audibly. 

Banter  was  a  thing  beyond  the  old  gentleman's 
comprehension.  "  Before  we  were  poor,"  he  said, 
"  a  regiment.  She  sent  them  all  away.  Then  we 

255 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

never  saw  anybody.  I  used  to  imagine — that  is, 
Wistar  was  one  of  the  regiment." 

"  Daddy!  "  Judith  protested. 

Minot  nodded  to  her  sympathetically.  "  Great 
old  joker,  Sears,"  he  said. 

Sears  smiled  an  ex  post  facto  smile;  it  was  a 
new  pleasure  to  be  taken  as  a  wit.  "  Oh,  I  keep 
my  eyes  open!"  he  said.  "After  Wistar  was 
thrown  in  with  us  again,  when  he  entered  the  com- 
bination, he  became  another  man.  Instead  of 
burying  himself  in  his  work,  he  dined  out,  even 
danced!  And  the  game  he  played  at  polo!  Ju- 
dith was  always  asking  news  of  him.  But,  some- 
how or  other,  he  is  never  able  to  find  an  evening 
to  dine  with  us.  You  know,"  he  concluded  with 
elephantine  levity,  "  I've  suspected  a  little  quar- 
rel! "  It  is,  in  fact,  a  dangerous  thing  when  a 
serious  man  takes  himself  seriously  as  a  joker. 

"  Daddy!  "  Judith  cried  in  horror.  "  I'm  sure 
we  didn't  beg  him !  You  may  remember  that  the 
last  time  he  dined  here  he  was  none  too  polite 
to  you !  "  She  looked  about  the  room  as  if  for 
a  pretext  to  change  the  conversation.  "  Have  you 
noticed  the  new  furniture  ?  "  she  said,  indicating  a 
colonial  set,  in  fine  keeping  with  the  ancient  room, 
which  had  only  that  day  been  installed  in  place 
of  the  black  walnut  and  haircloth  of  two  years 
ago.  "  Daddy  gave  it  to  me  for  my  birthday!  " 

"And  your  horses?  "  Minot  inquired.  "  I  re- 
256 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

member  you  riding  in  short  skirts — playing  scrub 
games  of  little  girl  polo !  " 

"  I  wanted  her  to  have  her  horses  back,"  Sears 
said,  "  but  it  seems  she's  turned  trust-buster." 

"  Nonsense,  Daddy!     I  believe  in  trusts!  " 

"  Whatever's  the  reason,  she  won't  tell  me.  But 
she  won't  take  a  penny  of  the  new  money — and 
it's  all  hers!" 

Judith's  glance  fell.  There  was  a  string  and  a 
scrap  of  paper  on  the  floor,  which  the  workman 
had  left  when  he  unwrapped  the  furniture.  She 
picked  them  up  and  put  them  in  the  waste  basket. 
Then  she  said:  "  How  is  Mrs.  Minot?  The  last 
time  I  saw  her  I  thought  her  cough  was  worse. 
Can't  you  get  her  to  the  mountains?  " 

Minot's  face  clouded.  "  I  got  her  to  promise, 
and  then  things  took  a  bad  turn  with  me,  and  that 
frightened  her  again."  Judith  looked  to  her  fa- 
ther in  a  manner  that  gave  Minot  warning. 
'  Think  of  that !  "  he  said,  reverting  to  the  lighter 
tone.  "  Two  women  who  refuse  to  spend 
money !  " 

"  But  surely,  there's  no  question  about  your 
good  fortune !  " 

Minot  laughed.  "  Then  you  are  a  trust-buster ! 
I'm  one  too,  but  I  must  say  your  money  is  all  right 
— as  long  as  you  have  Wistar  in  control." 

"As  long  as  we  have?"  Judith  questioned. 

A  look  of  fear  came  into  Sears's  face. 
257 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Minot  made  haste  to  change  the  subject. 
"  Still  asking  about  Wistar!  "  he  teased. 

Judith  blushed,  but  retorted  with  amiable  dig- 
nity: "What  a  very  bad  joke,  Uncle  Franklin! 
Why  shouldn't  he  keep  control?  When  he  joined 
us  we  all  promised  that  he  should.  Didn't  we, 
Daddy?" 

Sears  nodded.  At  the  approach  of  the  delicate 
topic  he  had  hobbled  over  to  the  desk,  and  was 
now  busied  with  papers. 

"There  is  something  worse  than  that!"  said 
Minot,  still  bent  on  changing  the  subject.  She 
had  seated  herself  on  the  window  seat,  and  he 
sat  down  beside  her.  "  Something  that  has 
made  you  think  ill  of  him,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice; 
"  and  what  you  think  makes  a  difference !  " 

"He  told  you  that!" 

"  Not  a  word !  After  the  operation,  as  he  was 
coming  out  from  under  ether,  he  kept  saying  it 
over  and  over — quite  unconscious  of  us — his 
tongue  as  thick  as  a  drunkard's.  At  first  I  didn't 
make  out  the  words;  and  then  before  I  realized 
what  they  meant  I  had  them  by  heart.  It's  none 
of  an  old  boy's  business,  but  they  were  such  sad, 
true  words.  You  call  him  the  cave  man.  What 
do  you  mean?  " 

'The  cave  man?  I'd  forgotten!  He  buried 
himself  in  his  dingy  and  dark  old  factory,  and 
when  we  came  by  and  asked  him  to  join  our  great 

258 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

and  glorious  combination,  he  made  angry  faces 
at  us  and  reached  for  his  club." 

"  But  now — he's  heart  and  soul  of  all  the  great 
and  glorious  things  you  have  done.  And  I  guess 
it's  all  for  you."  He  paused  with  sudden  realiza- 
tion. Sears  was  more  nearly  right  than  he  had 
supposed.  "  That's  why  you've  been  so  interested 
in  him  !  If  you  only  could  I  " 

She  shook  her  head.  "  It  isn't  any  use !  Men 
don't  make  themselves  over — not  really.  Scratch 
the  advanced  and  progressive  Mr.  Wistar  and 
you'll  find  the  cave  man." 

The  old  servant  announced  Penrhyn,  and  when 
he  entered  Minot  bowed  and  went  out. 

Sears  arose  and  hobbled  after  him;  but  as  Judith 
opened  the  door  for  him  he  paused.  "  There  are 
my  new  papers  as  trustee  of  your  estate,"  he  said. 
"  You  have  forgotten  to  sign  them,  and  the  old 
ones  run  out  to-morrow." 

"  I  was  waiting  for  the  notary.  And  my  birth- 
day has  come  before  I  realized — birthdays  al- 
ways do!  "  She  opened  a  drawer,  and  lifting  the 
revolver — now  no  longer  an  object  of  terror  to 
her — placed  the  papers  beneath  it. 

At  the  head  of  the  stairs  Minot  protested 
against  his  host's  painful  courtesy.  "  Not  a  step 
farther!  "  he  said.  Then  he  added:  "  Remember! 
It's  your  own  peace  of  mind  that's  at  stake — per- 
haps your  honor!  " 

259 


CHAPTER   XXX 

ENRHYN  had  had  no  trouble  in  put- 
ting a  good  face  on  his  encounter  with 
Wistar  at  polo.  Such  are  the  canons 
of  sportsmanship  that  none  of  his  fel- 
low-players had  contradicted  his  explanation  of 
it — that  is,  outside  of  the  intimacies  of  the  club- 
house. Several  of  the  newspaper  accounts  of  the 
game  gave  him  personally  credit  for  the  generosity 
of  allowing  Wistar's  shot  at  goal  to  score.  Valuing 
highly  a  free  and  enlightened  press,  he  had  al- 
ways treated  the  reporters  with  the  utmost  consid- 
ration — indeed  with  his  natural  manner  of  com- 
radely good  humor;  and  he  had  taken  advantage 
of  an  interview  after  the  game  to  let  fall  a  hint 
to  this  effect.  He  could  not  think,  he  remarked 
casually,  of  profiting  by  so  painful  an  accident. 

To  Judith  he  said  as  little  as  possible,  for  like 
all  accomplished  liars  he  was  sparing  of  false- 
hood; but  he  had  not  been  able  to  deny  himself 
one  embellishment,  chastily  calculated  to  give  his 
deed  a  heroic  background.  He  had  long  had  a 
slight  touch  of  heart  trouble — the  result  of  the 

260 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

excitement  of  Wall  Street  and  too  many  cigars; 
and  he  permitted  her  to  discover  a  fact  which  was 
not  a  fact — that  the  collision  and  fall  had  in- 
creased it.  For  the  sympathy  he  thus  gained  the 
only  cost  was  that  for  a  time  he  was  obliged  to 
forego  the  comradely  privilege  of  smoking  in  her 
presence. 

Already,  however,  he  had  decided  to  regain 
this.  When  Sears  and  Minot  were  gone,  he  took 
out  his  cigarette  case  and  lighted  a  cigarette. 

Judith  took  it  away  from  him.  "  Doctor's 
orders!  "  she  said,  and  threw  it  into  the  fireplace. 

"  By  the  way,"  he  laughed,  "  that  matter  of 
your  executor's  papers  is  important.  There's 
likely  to  be  a  fight  at  the  next  election  of  di- 
rectors." 

She  looked  at  him  squarely.  "  That's  what 
Mr.  Minot  meant!  They  intend  to  put  Mr.  Wis- 
tar  out  of  office !  "  Going  to  the  table  she  took 
the  papers  out  of  the  drawer  and  glanced  through 
them.  "What  does  it  all  mean?" 

"  Some  of  the  fellows  on  the  board  of  direct- 
ors say  that  just  now,  with  the  European  folks 
making  trouble,  we  need  a  well  man,  and  an  ag- 
gressive one."  He  sat  on*  the  window  seat  as  he 
spoke,  and  stretched  out  his  legs  on  it. 

"  But  you  and  father  have  promised  to  stand 
by  him !  You  will  do  so  ?  " 

"Naturally!"  He  spoke  in  a  casual  tone. 
261 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  had  no  fancy  for  the  topic,  and  taking  another 
cigarette,  lighted  a  match. 

She  dropped  the  papers,  and,  running  across 
the  room  to  him  reached  for  it.  He  turned  from 
her,  laughing,  and  with  his  back  hunched  up 
drew  a  few  quick  puffs.  But  she  leaned  over  him, 
and  grasped  the  fingers  that  held  the  cigarette. 

In  retaliation  he  put  his  hand  on  her  head,  and 
held  it  so  that  her  hair  brushed  his  cheek. 

"Stanley!"  she  cried,  in  instinctive  revulsion. 
"  How  can  you  do  such  a  thing?  " 

He  made  a  rueful  grimace.  "  You  say  we  are 
comrades.  If  you  were  a  real  comrade  you  would 
have  twisted  my  ear  or  flattened  my  nose.  But 
you  put  on  all  the  airs  of  the  affronted  lady." 

She  considered  a  moment,  then  gave  his  ear  a 
vigorous  tweak. 

"  Gee-hosaphat !  "  he  cried,  laughing.  "  If  you 
would  only  be  this  way  always !  "  he  added  in  a 
mock  serious  vein,  nursing  his  ear.  "  To-night 
will  begin  your  thirtieth  birthday — at  one  hour 
after  midnight." 

"  How  do  you  know  that?  " 

"  I  made  Mrs.  Boyser  tell  me.  She  said  your 
face  was  wrinkled  like  an  apple  in  February,  and 
that  you  had  an  Ai  pair  of  lungs." 

'  You  have  no  right  to  know  such  things !  " 

"  Do  you  think  there's  anything  about  you  that 
I  don't  want  to  know?"  His  face,  usually  so 

262 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

matter-of-fact,  lighted  up  with  an  expression  that 
was  positively  appealing.  "  I'd  give  the  fingers 
of  my  hand  to  see  you  as  a  baby,  as  a  child,  as 
a  little  girl!  Boyser  saw  it  all;  but  when  I  tried 
to  make  her  tell  me,  she  wasn't  polite." 

"What  did  she  say?" 

"  She  said,  '  Aw-go-wan  ' !  " 

In  Judith's  own  eyes  she  had  been  a  horrid  little 
girl,  spoiled  and  self-important.  But  there  was 
something  very  dear  in  such  interest  in  her;  and  as 
he  spoke  his  glance  was  unwontedly  endearing. 

"  You  know  what  you  promised,"  he  said,  half 
timidly,  half  pleading,  "your  thirtieth  birthday! 
I  don't  dare  think  of  it.  It  goes  to  my  head  like 
champagne !  But  all  day  long  it  has  been  haunt- 
ing me,  that  hope !  It  has  made  Wall  Street  gay, 
the  very  noises  of  Broadway  an  intoxication!  " 

She  did  not  answer,  and  he  looked  out  of  the 
window  across  the  square,  through  the  trees  of 
which  filtered  the  busy  sounds  of  the  city  below. 

"  There  it  is,"  he  pursued,  "  the  heart  of  the 
city,  of  the  whole  country,  throbbing  with  life! 
The  big  office  buildings,  the  harbor,  the  railways! 
With  you  to  work  for,  what  couldn't  I  do!  Our 
motor  trust,  I  can  make  it  the  biggest  thing  in  all 
that  world  of  big  things.  And  that  is  only  the 
beginning!  In  the  end  I  shall  force  my  way  to 
the  very  top — see  the  island  down  there  beneath 
me,  the  whole  country,  stretching  to  the  Golden 

263 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Gate — I  shall,  if  I  can  do  it  for  youl  For  years 
you  have  dropped  out  of  the  world — the  world 
you  were  born  to  lead.  Only  let  me  have  you — 
together  we  shall  go  back  into  it — wealth,  posi- 
tion, everything  yours !  " 

Striking  in  upon  the  gray  monotony  of  her  life, 
the  words  shone  like  fire — the  sort  of  fire  before 
which  few  women  of  spirit  can  remain  quite  cold. 
Yet  she  fought  for  the  firm  foothold  of  self-com- 
mand. "  That,"  she  said,  "  is  the  kind  of  con- 
versation, I  was  taught,  no  modest  and  proper 
young  woman  listens  to,  no  modest  and  proper 
young  man  permits  himself." 

"  Love  is  never  modest,  and  seldom  proper." 

"Stanley!" 

"  I  know !  Your  heart  is  set  against  love.  That 
is  the  modern  madness !  " 

She  shook  her  head.  "  Mad!  If  I  only  were 
I  might  listen  to  such  conversation.  I'm  hope- 
lessly, primitively  sane." 

"  True  love  is  sane,"  he  said,  reflecting,  "  but 
it  is  not  primitive.  In  primitive  days,  love  was  a 
frenzy.  The  cave  man  hunted  his  wife  with  a 
club." 

"  The  cave  man?    What  cave  man?  " 

"  Any  old  cave  man !  You  know !  Bearskin 
pants  and  frowzy  hair — lived  in  a  cave.  Who'd 
you  think?  The  strongest  cave  man  clubbed  out 
the  brains  of  his'  rivals,  and  then  went  for  her" 

264 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  Poor  cave  maiden !     Couldn't  she  get  away?  " 

"  She  tried  to.  It  was  her  instinct  to  flee.  But 
it  was  also  her  instinct  to  be  caught.  He  caught 
her  by  the  hair  of  her  golden  head  and  dragged 
her  to  his  cave." 

"  Horrors !  " 

"  There  she  learned  that  she  adored  the  man 
with  the  strongest  club — that  in  her  heart  she  must 
adore  him." 

"  Poor  thing!  "  She  laughed;  but  in  the  laugh 
was  a  little  shudder. 

"  Not  poor  thing  at  all !  That's  all  there  ever 
has  been  to  love — primitive  love — all  there  ever 
will  be!  Girls  have  ideals  of  the  grand  passion. 
The  grand  passion  is  the  modern  form  of  the  cave 
man's  club — the  only  thing  that  makes  a  girl  give 
up  a  dozen  lovers  for  one  man.  But  you — you 
are  too  wise,  too  wary."  He  was  still  lounging 
on  the  window  seat,  and  she  stood  beside  him, 
intent  on  what  he  was  saying.  The  early  autumn 
sunlight  fell  full  upon  her,  lending  splendor  to 
her  simple  house  gown,  and  casting  an  aura  upon 
the  luxurious  disorder  of  her  hair — "  So  wary,"  he 
concluded  sadly,  "that  I  have  lost  all  hope  of  land- 
ing the  club  on  the  hair  of  your  golden  head." 

He  had  spoken  half  laughingly,  half  in  earnest, 
but  she  was  quite  serious.  '  You,  Stanley,"  she 
said,  "  are  not  the  cave  man." 

He  looked  at  her,  questioning.  "  I  don't  pre- 
18  265 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

tend  to  be.  It's  a  blow  to  my  vanity  that  I'm 
not;  but  I  try  to  be  reconciled.  I  don't  think 
you'd  care  for  the  cave  man.  At  eighteen — per- 
haps! But  you  have  grown  up,  in  heart  and  in 
mind.  And  how  you  have  grown  up !  Every- 
thing a  man  can  care  for  in — I  don't  say  in  his 
mate,  for  I  never  knew  the  man  who  could  be  that 
to  you  !  But  a  comrade — what  a  comrade  !  That 
was  our  compact,  you  remember,  two  years  ago — 
bachelor  comrades  together!  In  all  these  months 
I  have  never  spoken  of  it — never  even  hinted! 
And  I  scarcely  dare  to  speak  of  it  now!  " 

"  But  the  cave  man,  the  one  with  the  bearskin 
— trousers,  I  mean !  What  if  some  day  he  should 
come  after  me  with  his  club?" 

"  Once  he  might  have.  But  you're  no  longer 
the  kind  he  cares  for." 

'  That  sounds  very  well,  but  somehow  I  don't 
like  the  way  it  feels."  She  paused,  and  then  said: 
"About  Mr.  Wistar?" 

"  You're  not  afraid  of  him!  " 

"Afraid?  No!  But  you  haven't  explained 
to  me — you  mean  to  be  fair  with  him?  " 

"Fair?   Of  course!   But  he  is  making  it  hard." 
'  Yet  we've  known  all  along  he's  an  obstinate 
conservative." 

"  Everything  we  have  worked  for  is  within  our 
grasp,  and  he  is  letting  it  slip  through  his  fingers. 
The  whole  board  of  directors  is  against  him." 

266 


THE     CAVE     MAN 


"  But  you  and  father- 


"  We  have  given  our  promise,"  he  said  with 
admirable  directness  and  simplicity. 

She  was  silent  for  a  long  time,  as  it  seemed  to 
Penrhyn. 

"And  your  promise  to  me?"  he  said  at  last. 
"Comrades — bachelor  comrades  together?" 

"You  mean  that — literally?" 

He  paused  just  the  fraction  of  a  second.  Then 
he  spoke  with  conviction.  "  That  is  the  only  way 
I  could  mean  it." 

"  All  my  life  I  have  hoped  such  a  thing  might 
happen.  But  they  say — and  I  am  beginning  to 
believe  them — that  it  is  not  possible,  not  in  the 
scheme  of  nature." 

Penrhyn  had  once  pleaded  with  her  for  the  nor- 
mal. But  now  he  said:  "  It  is  possible — for  those 
who  truly  love." 

"I  am  very  lonesome!"  She  spoke  as  if  to 
herself.  "  When  May  is  gone  I  shall  be  forsaken 
and  forlorn!  "  Again  she  was  silent. 

He  watched  her,  quiet,  intense. 

"  You  promised  me !  "  he  ventured  at  last. 

"  I  shall  keep  my  promise,  too,"  she  concluded. 

He  leaped  from  the  window  seat,  caught  her 
two  hands  and  drew  her  toward  him. 

She  evaded,  and  with  a  quick  movement  of  her 
hand  across  his  face  flattened  his  nose  with  her 
thumb.  "  Bachelor  comrades !  "  she  said. 

267 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

He  was  still  nursing  the  cartilage  when  May 
and  Billy  came  in. 

"Not  late  for  the  committee  meeting?"  Billy 
asked. 

"  Smith  hasn't  come  yet,"  Penrhyn  answered 
nasally. 

"  We've  had  the  loveliest  morning !  "  May 
said. 

"  You  bad  child!  "  Judith  admonished.  "  You 
must  get  on  with  your  trousseau  things!  You 
should  have  gone  to  Francoise !  " 

May  smiled  demurely.     ''  We  went." 

"  We !  "  exclaimed  Judith. 

"  Billy  wouldn't  leave  me !  Franchise  thought 
it  the  grandest  joke !  She  said — "  May  paused 
in  embarrassment. 

"  What  did  she  say?  "  Penrhyn  demanded. 

"  Help,  help  1  "  cried  Billy.  "  Won't  anybody 
respect  my  modesty !  " 

May  rose  on  tiptoe  and  whispered  to  Judith. 

"  Maya !  "  Judith  cried.     Then  she  laughed. 

[<  The  shameless  French  hussy !  "  Penrhyn 
cried.  "  Naughty,  naughty!  Oh,  oh!  "  Then  he 
whispered  audibly  to  Onderdonk.  "  What  did 
she  say!  Tell  me!  " 

Billy  turned  on  his  heel. 

"  Mr.  Irvingdale  Smith,"  announced  Boyser, 
opening  the  door. 


268 


I 


CHAPTER    XXXI 

N  the  incidents  of  two  years  ago  On- 
derdonk  had  long  felt  that  there  had 
been  an  element  of  which  he  had  been 
kept  in  ignorance.  But  he  had  learned 
enough  of  late  from  Wistar  to  know  that  at  the 
coming  election  of  officers  they  would  have  to  fight 
for  their  power.  Even  in  this  matter  of  the  pres- 
ent policy  of  the  committee,  he  feared  the  worst. 
With  Mr.  Sears  on  their  side,  it  was  true,  the  two 
factions  were  equally  divided,  even  in  Wistar's 
absence;  and  it  did  not  seem  likely  that  Penrhyn 
and  Smith  would  stand  by  the  course  they  had 
begun  when  Wistar  was  supposed  to  be  dying. 
But  he  was  by  this  time  well  aware  of  his  oppo- 
nents' skill  and  boldness.  It  was  necessary  to  meet 
them  at  every  point  with  the  utmost  resolution. 
And  he  had  now  to  take  command. 

"  It  has  come  to  my  knowledge,"  he  said,  as 
Mr.  Sears  took  the  chair  and  disposed  his  game 
leg  beneath  the  table,  "  that  some  one  of  us  has 
lately  been  reversing  Wistar's  policy  as  general 
manager."  As  he  said  this  he  looked  squarely  at 
Smith,  and  then  at  Penrhyn. 

269 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  If  Mr.  Onderdonk  has  any  charge  to  make," 
said  Penrhyn,  stretching  himself  in  luxurious  in- 
dolence upon  the  window  seat,  "  may  I  suggest 
that  it  is  in  order  to  make  it  specifically?  " 

"  Among  other  things,  we  have  begun  a  course 
of  predatory  competition  against  Minot." 

"  The  man  has  refused  a  fair  offer  to  sell  out 
to  us.  May  I  ask  what  course  Mr.  Onderdonk 
would  recommend?  " 

"  I  deny  that  our  offer  was  fair.  His  machine 
is  better  than  our  best  in  its  line.  It  wa's  the  part 
of  wisdom  and  honesty  to  buy  it  in  even  at  an  ad- 
vanced figure,  and  abandon  Smith's  car." 

At  this  Smith  sat  up  and  smiled  with  piratic 
benevolence. 

"  Begging  your  pardon !  "  Billy  concluded. 

"Don't  mind  me!"  Smith  vouchsafed  with  a 
grin.  "  I'm  not  sensitive  about  the  machine  I 
manufacture — only  the  machine  I  drive !  " 

Billy  thought  he  saw  a  chance  to  score.  "  What 
make?  "  he  said. 

"  A  Minot,"  said  Smith  with  unconcern.  "  And 
you?" 

"  A  Minot,  too.  You  see  we  are  agreed  that 
the  car  is  better." 

"We'll  shake  on  that!" 

With  a  twinkle  he  made  as  if  to  reach  for 
Billy's  hand;  but  Billy  ignored  him.  "That  day 
Penrhyn  blew  up  near  Wistar's  garage  in  one  of 
270 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

my  cars,"  Smith  pursued  unabashed — "  if  the  pa- 
pers got  hold  of  such  an  accident  it  might  hurt 
the  trade.  Smith  blown  to  glory  in  a  Smith  ma- 
chine!  But  are  you  afraid  of  your  car?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know!  "  Billy  laughed,  his  good 
nature  prevailing.  "  My  old  car  was  painted  red, 
and  one  day  while  I  was  shifting  gears  on  a  hill, 
along  came  a  farmer  with  a  bull.  The  beast 
dragged  the  old  Reuben  at  me,  and  before  I  could 
get  going  on  the  new  speed,  slewed  me  into  the 
ditch.  The  papers  did  get  hold  of  that.  Such  a 
thing  can't  happen  with  Minot's  gear.  Or  if  it 
does,  it's  a  bull  on  Minot." 

Smith  rose  solemnly  and  grasped  Billy's  hand. 

Billy  was  not  slow  to  see  the  purpose  of  such 
joviality.  "  As  a  fellow-motorist  in  distress,"  he 
said,  "  I  shake  your  hand.  But  as  regards  Minot, 
I  have  doubts.  I  want  to  know  just  what  you  are 
doing  to  him." 

"  Does  that  fall  within  your  bailiwick?"  Pen- 
rhyn  inquired. 

"  It  does !  "  Billy  answered  firmly.  "  As  a  mem- 
ber of  this  committee  I  am  morally  responsible  for 
what  it  does.  If  you  are  acting  illegally,  it  is  my 
right — my  duty — to  protest.  I  demand  that  the 
whole  thing  be  put  .down  on  the  records  of  our 
meetings  in  black  and  white — to  be  produced,  if 
necessary,  in  a  court  of  law." 

Penrhyn  was  startled,  but  in  a  moment  he  said 
271 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

in  his  customary  tone:  "  Did  Wistar  ever  say  '  by 
your  leave  '  to  us?  " 

"  No,"  said  Billy,  nonplused  for  a  moment. 
Then  he  added  quickly:  "But  Wistar  was  our 
authorized  manager !  " 

"Precisely!"  said  Penrhyn.  "But  he  is  out 
of  the  game,  and  it  was  to  authorize  his  successor 
that  this  meeting  was  called.  I  propose  that  we 
do  so." 

"  I  second  the  motion,"  said  Smith. 

"  But  that  means  reversing  his  whole  policy ! 
And  you  promised  to  stand  by  him !  " 

"  As  long  as  he  could  get  about  and  do  business, 
we  stood  by  him.  But  now  the  committee  has  to 
proceed  without  him,  according  to  the  best  of  its 
comparatively  feeble  ability." 

Billy  jumped  to  his  feet.  "  This  is  a  matter  of 
vital  importance,  and  you  decide  it  without  warn- 
ing, without  discussion.  I  demand  that  we  wait 
until  Wistar  can  be  with  us." 

'*  When  you've  been  in  business  longer,"  Pen- 
rhyn said  coolly,  "  you'll  know  that  important 
matters  don't  wait." 

"  Important  matters  wait  for  important  men ! 
You  know,  better  than  anyone,  why  Wistar  is  not 
here.  You  broke  the  fair  rules  of  the  game  at  the 
risk  of  his  life,  and  now  you  are  breaking  the  law 
at  the  risk  of  his  honor,  and  to  the  loss  of  your 
own!" 

272 


Penrhyn  turned  to  Sears.  "  Mr.  Chairman," 
he  said,  "  a  motion  has  been  made  and  seconded. 
I  call  for  the  question." 

Sears  was  obviously  uncomfortable.  "  I  prom- 
ised," he  said,  "  to  use  my  influence  to  wait  for 
Wistar." 

"  Pardon  me,"  said  Penrhyn,  "  if  I  insist  on  a 
point  of  order.  As  chairman  you  have  no  influ- 
ence. It  is  your  duty  to  put  the  question." 

The  old  gentleman  did  not  answer. 

"  I  vote  yes,"  said  Smith. 

"  I  vote  no !  "  cried  Billy. 

"  I  vote  yes,"  said  Penrhyn,  and  looked  at  the 
chairman. 

Sears  remained  silent. 

"  The  question  is  carried,"  Penrhyn  concluded. 

Billy  strode  into  the  middle  of  the  floor.  "  Let 
me  warn  you !  "  he  cried.  "  Wistar  is  a  sick  man. 
He  lies  on  his  back,  with  a  gash  in  his  side  that 
throbs  at  every  pulse — tortures  him  if  he  so  much 
as  lifts  his  head.  But  he  is  not  dead  yet — and 
he's  not  the  dying  kind !  When  he  is  well  he  will 
be  well  as  ever.  And  he  will  fight — you  know 
how  he  fights — like  a  wild-cat " 

"  I'm  in  the  wild-cat  business  myself,"  said  Pen- 
rhyn with  a  slow  smile. 

"  Yes,"  said  Onderdonk,  "  but  the  sort  of 
wild-cat  that  fights  in  the  dark!  Wistar  fights  in 
the  open,  and  he  will  drag  you  there,  show  you 

273 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

up  as  you  are  in  the  light  of  Wall  Street  I  You 
have  jumped  into  his  boots.  Stay  there  if  you 
dare!  The  time  will  come — "  Billy  was  very 
angry  and  the  words  choked  in  his  throat. 

There  was  a  knock  without,  and  Mrs.  Boyser 
came  in. 

Penrhyn  did  not  heed,  but  smiled  again  at  the 
young  man  with  indulgent  cynicism,  and  said: 
'  The  time  has  come." 

"  Mr.  Wistar  has  come,"  said  Boyser. 

"What!"  cried  Penrhyn,  his  self-assurance 
falling  from  him  like  a  garment.  "  You  are 
crazy !  He's  flat  on  his  back,  half  dead !  " 

"  Sure,  at  the  sight  of  him,"  she  answered,  "  I 
thought  he  was  all  dead.  It's  his  own  ghost  that 
he  is." 


274 


w 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

HEN  Minot  returned  from  his  inter- 
view with  Sears  his  report  confirmed 
Wistar's  worst  apprehensions.  It 
took  no  clairvoyance  to  read  in  it  the 
vacillation  of  a  soul  sorely  tried — the  traditions 
and  habits  of  a  gentleman  in  unequal  combat  with 
inherent  weakness  and  plausible  temptation. 

"  I'm  going  to  get  up  and  go  out,"  Wistar  an- 
nounced to  the  nurse. 

There  was  something  in  his  voice  that  alarmed 
her.  But  she  speedily  recovered  confidence.  "  Try 
it,"  she  said.  It  was  a  bold  course  to  take,  but  she 
knew  her  man  and  trusted  in  his  good  sense. 

Slowly  Wistar  rose  in  bed,  his  face  tortured 
with  pain. 

"  Bravo !  "  she  said,  mocking  him.  "  You 
stand  it  almost  as  well  as  a  woman  would.  But 
now  let's  see  you  walk!  "  After  so  long  a  spell 
in  bed  the  strongest  man  is  like  a  baby  in  its  first 
effort  to  command  its  legs. 

Wistar  rose  to  his  feet,  and,  though  his  head 
swam,  he  managed  to  make  his  way  to  where  his 
clothes  were  laid  in  the  wardrobe.  "  My  dear 

275 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Miss  Peters,"  he  said,  "  for  three  weeks  I  have 
been  flicking  my  muscles,  just  so  I  could  do  this 
if  I  had  to." 

'  You  shan't  go !  "  she  said,  now  thoroughly 
alarmed.  "  One  strain  on  your  side  and  you  will 
tear  open  the  wound !  " 

Wistar  had  been  moving  with  catlike  softness 
and  smoothness.  "  I  know  it,"  he  answered. 
"  That's  why  I'm  so  careful." 

"You  are  risking  your  life!  "  she  cried.  And 
Minot  standing  by  took  part  with  her. 

"  The  lives  of  others  are  at  stake,"  he  said  to 
Minot.  "Will  you  kindly  tell  Mrs.  Minot — 
my  own  condition  entitles  me  to  be  heard — that 
she  is  to  take  care  of  her  health.  I  guarantee  that 
she  is  justified — that  she  would  not  be  justified  if 
she  didn't!"  Then  he  turned  to  the  nurse.  "And 
it's  a  matter  of  more  than  life,  Miss  Peters.  It 
is  a  matter  of  justice  and  honor.  If  you  try  to 
force  me  back  I  shall  resist — you  know  what  that 
may  mean!  Let  me  go  and  I  shall  see  that  no 
harm  is  done  to  the  wound." 

If  Miss  Peters  had  known  the  crisis  as  well  as 
she  knew  the  man,  she  would  have  sat  on  his  head 
as  it  had  lain  on  the  pillow. 

When  the  motor  entered  Washington  Square 
and  glided  up  to  the  curb,  Judith  had  been  look- 
ing out  at  the  window,  and  as  Wistar,  haggard 
and  spectral,  walked  cautiously  and  erect  up  the 

276 


marble  steps,  supported  between  Minot  and  Miss 
Peters,  she  hurried  to  the  door.  Intuitively  she 
took  in  the  situation.  "You  mustn't!"  she 
pleaded.  "  All  that  we  promised  you — father, 
Stanley — as  long  as  you  live,  they  must  keep  their 
word.  By  risking  your  life  you  risk  everything! 
And  what  can  you  possibly  gain !  " 

His  suffering  made  him  benign.  "  I  gain  this," 
he  said,  "  that  after  to-day  there  will  be  no  doubt 
in  that  matter  of  sleeves.  I  love  the  old  ones,  but 
I  know  they  ought  to  be  more  so." 

"It's  no  use,"  said  Minot;  and  even  Miss 
Peters  pleaded  that  he  might  do  what  he  had  to 
do  as  quickly  as  possible.  So  they  toiled  up  the 
stairs  within,  and  presently  Wistar  stood  before 
his  four  associates,  the  anguished  pallor  of  his 
cheeks  standing  out  from  the  black  neckerchief 
and  fur  coat  which  he  had  thrown  around  him. 

"  Am  I  in  time?  "  he  asked  of  Onderdonk. 

"  Yes!  To  be  bundled  back  to  bed,  where  you 
belong!" 

"  Am  I  in  time !  "  Wistar  demanded  sternly. 

"  Just  in  time,"  said  Billy,  obeying  a  sign  from 
Minot  and  Miss  Peters. 

Wistar  sank  back  into  an  easy  chair  and  looked 
about  him.  "  What  I  say  must  be  short.  But  it 
will  be  to  the  point.  Where  are  we?  " 

Minot  went  out,  and  with  a  final  word  of  cau- 
tion Miss  Peters  followed. 

277 


T  H  E     CAVE     MAN 

"  Penrhyn  owns  that  he  has  got  out  his  knife," 
said  Onderdonk,  "  and  he  has  proposed  to  make 
Smith  general  manager  in  your  place." 

Penrhyn's  teeth  set.  "  That  motion,"  he  said, 
"  has  been  carried." 

Onderdonk  raised  his  hand  with  a  significant 
gesture.  "  But  it  has  not  been  declared  so  by  the 
chairman !  Wistar  votes  with  me  against  it !  " 

"  I  do,"  said  Wistar. 

"  Now,"  cried  Billy,  "  the  deciding  vote  rests 
with  Mr.  Sears !  " 

Wistar  looked  to  the  old  man,  upon  whose  rec- 
titude, he  felt,  the  world  was  staked.  "  You  will 
not  forget !  "  he  said,  in  a  voice  none  the  less  stern 
because  it  was  soft  and  subdued.  "  Law  is  law, 
and  honor  is  honor!" 

Sears  was  silent. 

Penrhyn  cut  in  with  decision.  "  Because  old 
John  Sherman  passed  a  freak  bill  against  trusts, 
are  we  to  have  our  hands  tied?  That  law  is 
broken  every  day,  by  every  big  industry  in  the 
country.  Have  you  ever  heard  that  any  trust 
manager  has  been  sent  to  prison?  Have  any  of 
them  been  fined  more  than  a  shopgirl's  carfare?  " 

"  Will  you  argue  that  way,"  Wistar  asked,  very 
quietly,  "  in  the  open  board  of  directors — before 
the  stockholders  in  the  annual  meeting?  " 

'Yes!  A  thousand  times!  They  listen  to  a 
trust-buster!  You  make  me  laugh.  They  will 

278 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

turn'  you  down  like  that  I  And  they  are  right. 
You  are  hide-bound  by  narrow,  academic  scru- 
ples. We  are  looking  to  the  future  of  a  great 
industry." 

Wistar  laid  his  head  back  on  the  chair.  "  Pen- 
rhyn  the  philanthropist!  "  he  said. 

"  Wistar  does  not  believe  in  monopolies  in 
trade,"  Penrhyn  shot  back  at  him  with  mounting 
rancor,  "  but  he  does  not  scruple  to  pose  as  hav- 
ing a  monopoly  here  of  wisdom  and  virtue." 

Smith  ventured  an  inward  chuckle. 

"  I  have  no  wish  to  bust  Wistar's  virtue  trust," 
Penrhyn  pursued,  his  eyes  and  his  words  trained 
upon  Sears,  "  yet  it  is  something  that  the  gentle- 
men I  represent  are  meeting  a  foreign  aggression 
with  the  vision  and  the  will  of  statesmen." 

Wistar  leaned  forward,  his  eyes  like  wind-swept 
coals  in  his  ashen  cheeks.  He,  also,  spoke  to  Mr. 
Sears.  "  This  is  the  holiest  exhortation  to  virtue 
since  the  oil  trade  was  plundered  to  establish  uni- 
versities and  churches.  Has  Mr.  Penrhyn  de- 
tailed to  you  what  he  is  doing  to  the  independent 
manufacturers — to  Franklin  Minot,  for  exam- 
ple?" 

Sears  shook  his  head. 

"  I  tried  to  make  him,"  said  Billy.  "  He  re- 
fused." 

"  Minot  came  with  me,"  Wistar  answered. 
"  Ask  him  in." 

279 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  I  object!  "  cried  Penrhyn.  "  This  is  unheard 
of — a  low  trick  to  work  on  our  sympathies !  " 

Wistar  looked  firmly  at  Sears.  "  Your  decision, 
Mr.  Chairman,"  he  said. 

"  Show  Minot  in,"  said  Sears. 

"  I  knew  you  would  be  with  us,  sir,"  said  Billy. 

Wistar  lay  back  again  in  his  chair.  Even  now 
he  shrank  from  the  danger  of  exposing  the  old 
gentleman  to  Onderdonk,  and  he  rejoiced  in  this 
sign  that  such  extreme  measures  would  not  be 
necessary. 

As  Minot  entered  he  looked  in  alarm  to  Wis- 
tar. "  For  God's  sake,  man,  think  of  yourself," 
he  pleaded.  "  Already  you've  been  here  five  min- 
utes. Let  me  take  you  home." 

Onderdonk  took  the  cue,  and  together  they  laid 
hands  on  Wistar's  shoulders. 

For  the  first  time  Wistar  lost  his  self-control. 
"Everybody  tries  to  bully  me!"  he  said,  with 
the  grievance,  in  fact  the  petulance,  of  the  invalid. 
"  And  I  am  weak — I  need  all  the  strength  I 
have." 

The  two  men  stood  apart  from  him. 

"Tell  Mr.  Sears,"  Wistar  said  to  Minot, 
"  what  these  men  are  doing  to  you." 

"  It's  the  old  game.  They  have  forced  the 
makers  of  wheels  and  bodies  to  raise  their  rates 
to  me  twenty  per  cent.  The  foundries  charge  me 
double  for  my  castings.  And  I  gather  that  half 

280 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

of  what  they  squeeze  out  of  me  they  are  giving 
to  you  people  in  the  way  of  secret  rebates." 

"Is  this  so?"  said  Wistar  to  Penrhyn.  "If 
you  deny  it,  we  can  prove  it  against  you  by  our 
books," 

"  I  don't  deny  it,"  Penrhyn  answered  sullenly. 

"  You  and  the  makers  of  parts,"  commented 
Wistar,  "  have  cut  the  throat  of  this  man,  and  to- 
gether you  are  drinking  his  blood !  " 

"  Put  it  that  way  if  it  pleases  you!  " 

"Is  that  all,  Minot?" 

"  Not  half !  When  they  failed  to  force  me  to 
sell  my  invention  they  lured  away  my  foreman, 
and  have  started  to  steal  it  from  me." 

Penrhyn  and  Smith  were  silent. 

"  That  is  impossible,"  said  Mr.  Sears.  "  You 
are  protected  by  your  patent." 

"  You  are  fortunate  to  be  so  ignorant  of  patent 
law.  Men  who  have  had  experience  of  it  know 
that  a  big  concern  like  yours  dares  to  do  anything. 
My  own  lawyer  advises  me  not  to  fight,  but  to 
sell  out  to  you  if  you  offer  me  half  a  price." 

"  I  think  I  can  say  for  my  colleagues,"  said 
Sears,  "  that  we  stand  ready  to  give  you  a  full 
price.  We  shall  not  drive  a  bargain.  What  we 
have  at  heart  is  the  good  of  the  industry — a  great 
American  industry." 

'  You  say  '  sell  out.'     What  you  mean  is  sell 
out  and  get  out.     If  I  intended  to  do  that  do  you 
19  281 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

think  I'd  have  told  what  I  did?  My  business 
is  my  own.  I  made  it,  and  as  long  as  I  live 
I  shall  control  it!  For  twenty  years  I  fought 
against  injustice  when  my  family  was  sick  and 
starving.  There  is  still  sickness;  and  what  you 
threaten  may  mean  starvation.  But  there's  plenty 
of  fight  left  in  me.  Give  me  my  right — what  I 
asked  at  the  outset — and  I  will  work  with  you 
and  for  you.  Try  to  hold  me  up,  and  I  will 
sell  my  life  dear,  I  tell  you!  An  American  in- 
dustry! I  am  an  American  merchant.  As  long 
as  I  live  I  shall  be  free !  " 

A  dead  silence  followed  the  outburst.  Penrhyn 
and  Smith  sat  unmoved.  Sears  fidgeted. 

"  This  answer  is  final?  "  Wistar  asked. 

"  Final." 

"  I'm  sorry,"  Wistar  said,  "  but  I  would  have 
done  the  same." 

He  bowed  and  Minot  went  out. 

"  Since  you  have  raised  the  question  of  patriot- 
ism, Mr.  Sears,"  Wistar  said  slowly,  "  let  me  say 
that  it  is  the  one  which  I  myself  hold  most  deeply 
at  heart.  Perhaps  you  have  not  noticed  what  is 
happening  in  this  Hamiltonian  republic  of  ours, 
this  Jeffersonian  democracy?  The  movement  is 
slow,  but  already  it  has  gained  a  mighty  momen- 
tum. The  spirit  of  the  time  is  swinging  us  to 
two  extremes — a  heartless  plutocracy  and  a  rabid 
proletariat.  The  factions  are  violently  opposed 

282 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

to  each  other,  but  they  are  more  violently  opposed 
to  every  valuable  instinct  in  American  life.  If 
things  continue  as  they  are  going,  one  of  two  ends 
must  come — an  empire  or  socialism.  The  hope 
for  the  future  of  the  republic,  I  believe,  rests  with 
men  placed  as  we  are  placed — upon  the  vigor  and 
the  honesty  with  which  we  combat  the  greed  of 
the  money  power." 

"Rot!"  interrupted  Penrhyn.  "You  talk 
like  a  Teddyotorial." 

Wistar  looked  at  him  quickly,  the  glow  in  his 
eye  leaping  into  flame.  "  A  great  American  in- 
dustry ! "  he  cried,  his  voice  rising  to  its  full 
power.  "  You,  Stanley  Penrhyn,  and  you,  Irving- 
dale  Smith,  are  slaughtering  Minot  and  his  fel- 
lows because  they  stand  in  the  way  of  your  private 
greed!" 

Penrhyn  jumped  to  his  feet.  '  This  is  a  per- 
sonal attack !  "  he  shouted. 

"You  have  discovered  that!  "  Wistar  laughed 
bitterly.  "  It  is — because  it  is  the  answer  to  a 
personal  attack!  I  hoped  I  should  not  have  to 
make  it — for  your  sake,  Mr.  Sears,  and  for  the 
sake  of  those  who  belong  to  you.  But  you  force 
me.  Before  I  speak,  I  give  you  one  more  chance 
to  side  with  me  against  these  men." 

Sears's  distress  was  pitiful  to  see;  but  he  was 
silent,  and  Wistar  was  obliged  to  play  his  trump 
card. 

283 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  When  Penrhyn  urged  me  to  join  you — even 
then  he  was  planning  to  wrest  my  power  away 
from  me,  to  use  it  for  his  own  evil  ends.  He 
tricked  me  then  as  he  has  tried  to  trick  me  now." 

"  Oh,  come  on,  Wistar!  "  said  Smith  with  burly 
expostulation.  "  You've  allowed  this  thing  to  get 
on  your  nerves.  You're  not  feeling  well.  Since  you 
must  talk,  let's  talk  about  something  pleasant !  " 

"  I  call  for  the  question !  "  said  Penrhyn. 

"It  is  true — I'm  not  feeling  well!"  Wistar 
rose  slowly  from  his  chair,  swept  his  antagonists 
with  a  glance  of  fire,  and  then  looked  steadily  at 
Sears.  As  he  did  so  his  hand  clutched  at  his 
groin.  "  Every  beat  of  my  heart  stabs  me  in  this 
half-healed  wound!  But  if  my  side  opened  again 
and  let  out  my  entrails,  I  would  proclaim  what  this 
man  is  I  " 

"Wow!  Wow!  Wow !"  remarked  Penrhyn. 
And  then,  with  the  effect  of  adorning  a  phrase,  he 
added:  uYow!  Yow!  Yow !  " 

'  The  theft  of  my  papers  from  my  safe  two 
years  ago — it  was  Penrhyn  who  put  Andrews  up 
to  it  and  paid  for  it." 

Penrhyn's  face  mantled  with  rage  and  hate. 
"Andrews  has  peached!"  he  cried. 

Wistar  smiled  through  his  pain.  "  You  yourself 
have  peached,  in  these  very  words  you  speak! 
Andrews  is  discreet.  He  is  paid  too  well.  He  is 
kept  in  cold  storage — blackmail !  " 

284 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  He  calls  it  my  ice-bill,"  said  Penrhyn,  recov- 
ering a  cynical  composure.  "  But  you  can't  prove 
it." 

"  I  can  prove  it."  Wistar  paused  and  the  si- 
lence of  fear  fell  upon  his  four  associates.  It 
was  the  critical  moment,  and  he  ably  took  ad- 
vantage of  it.  "  What  is  more,"  he  concluded, 
"  I  can  prove  that  Mr.  Sears  was  party  to  that 
theft." 

Billy  stared  from  Wistar  to  Sears,  from  Sears 
to  Penrhyn,  and  then  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  old 
gentleman. 

Penrhyn  was  not  to  be  surprised  into  a  second 
confession.  "  It's  a  lie !  "  he  shouted. 

But  Sears  spoke  also.  "  I  used  all  my  influence 
against  it,"  he  said.  "  He  wouldn't  listen  to 
me." 

'  Yet  you  knew  what  he  was  doing,"  Wistar  in- 
cisively reminded  him.  "  And  you  aided  him  by 
your  silence.  You  can't  deny  that!  " 

"  Neither  can  you  prove  it,"  Penrhyn  retorted, 
"  against  him  or  against  me!  " 

"  Andrews  invested  the  money  in  our  stock. 
Will  you  be  able  to  explain  where  he  got  the 
money  ?  " 

Penrhyn  was  clearly  taken  aback.  "  How  do 
you  know  that?"  he  cried. 

"  From  my  broker — by  accident.  And  the  night 
of  the  theft  I  saw  Andrews  leaving  your  rooms. 

285 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

To  this  day  he  goes  to  see  you  regularly  to  col- 
lect the  money  on  which  he  lives." 

Penrhyn  was  dumb. 

Wistar  turned  to  Mr.  Sears.  "  I  call  on  you 
to  defeat  his  motion,  to  stand  by  me  till  this  man 
is  driven  from  power.  If  you  don't  I  shall  prove 
him  a  thief — in  the  court  of  common  criminals, 
where  he  belongs." 

For  a  moment  Penrhyn  seemed  crushed.  But 
his  face  cleared  and  gave  evidence  of  his  in- 
tensely active  mind.  Finally  it  broke  into  a  smile 
of  triumph:  "  Oh,  will  you  do  all  those  things?  " 
he  said  coolly.  "  Do  you  remember  who  was 
with  me  when  I  met  Andrews?  It  was  Mr.  Sears. 
Do  you  remember  to  whom  Andrews  sent  the  let- 
ter? To  Mr.  Sears.  Make  any  charge  you 
choose.  In  a  court  of  law  it  is  he  who  will  have  to 
answer." 

Mr.  Sears  rose  from  his  chair,  his  face  one  note 
of  abject  fear.  "  I  did  it  under  protest,"  he  found 
words  to  say. 

'  You  dirty  blackguard,"  said  Onderdonk, 
striding  toward  Penrhyn.  "  Get  out  of  this  house, 
or  I'll  kick  you  out." 

"  Stop !  "  said  Wistar.  "  There  is  a  motion 
before  the  meeting." 

Penrhyn  donned  an  air  of  magnanimity.  "I  will 
do  all  any  man  can  to  take  what  responsibility 
belongs  to  me.  But  the  facts  are  the  facts.  It 

286 


THE      CAVE      MAN 

rests  with  Wistar  to  say  whether  Mr.  Sears  is  to 
be  branded  as  a  criminal,  his  family  the  family  of 
a  criminal." 

It  was  Wistar's  turn  to  stand  silent  and  amazed. 
Penrhyn's  reasons  for  sparing  the  old  man,  he  was 
inclined  to  believe,  had  once  been  no  less  than  his 
own.  But  two  years  had  passed,  of  the  record 
of  which  he  was  ignorant.  Very  likely  the  young 
financier  would  not  be  equal  to  his  threat.  But 
abyss  after  abyss  of  baseness  had  yawned  before 
him,  and  now  this,  the  deepest  of  all.  He  did  not 
dare,  he  had  not  the  strength,  to  put  the  threat  to 
the  test. 

"You  don't  answer?"  Penrhyn  said  sardon- 
ically. "  Right  enough !  People  don't  do  these 
things!  Meantime,  I  call  for  the  previous  ques- 
tion." 

The  old  gentleman's  lips  parted  as  if  he  were 
about  to  speak;  but  no  words  came. 

"  It  rests  with  you,  Mr.  Chairman !  "  Penrhyn 
prompted  him.  Then,  as  Sears  sat  speechless,  he 
spoke  on,  his  words  of  sharp  threat  and  com- 
mand persuasively  enveloped  in  the  soft  velvet 
of  his  tones.  "  With  scruples  such  as  Wistar's, 
all  your  life  long  you  have  failed  in  deal  after 
deal — risked  everything,  and  lost  it.  I  bring  you 
one  last  chance — the  biggest  you  ever  had — or 
any  man!  You  believe  with  me.  Whether  you 
stand  by  me  or  not,  I  shall  win.  If  you  value  your 

287 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

position  as  a  director,  as  an  officer  of  the  corpora- 
tion, if  you  belieye  in  the  future  we  hope,  you  will 
help  me  down  this  trust-busting  fool  here  and 
now." 

Wincing  before  Penrhyn,  Sears  turned  in  agi- 
tation to  Wistar.  "  Of  this  crime  you  speak  of," 
he  said,  "  you  know  I  am  innocent.  As  to  the 
general  question  of  our  policy  as  a  consolidation 
I  can  only  say  that  I  disagree  with  you." 

"The  motion  is  carried!"  Penrhyn  cried. 
"We  win!" 

Sears  nodded. 

Onderdonk  started  to  his  feet  in  amazement. 
But  Wistar  sank  faintly  into  his  chair. 


288 


F 


CHAPTER    XXXIII 

OR  the  moment  Wistar's  strength 
was  spent;  but  he  had  not  fainted — 
he  was  not  the  fainting  kind.  As  he 
lay  exhausted  in  his  chair,  tortured 
by  the  pain  in  his  side,  he  heard  a  raucous  whisper 
of  Smith's  to  Penrhyn,  the  purport  of  which  only 
gradually  dawned  upon  him. 

"Did  you  get  on  to  Wistar?"  the  amiable 
pirate  said.  "  Half  dead  as  he  is,  the  hair  on  the 
back  of  his  neck  rose  and  bristled.  When  a  man 
has  that  kind  of  fight  in  him — thank  Heaven 
we've  got  the  drop  on  him !  I'm  off  to  get  busy — 
you  know !  " 

That  could  only  mean  one  thing.  Ignorant  of 
Wistar's  slow,  steady  buying  in  the  past,  and  con- 
vinced that  he  was  now  intending  for  the  first 
time  to  fight  them  for  control,  they  were  thinking 
to  get  into  the  market  ahead  of  him  and  forestall 
him.  It  was  the  thing  Wistar  most  desired,  for 
it  gave  him  the  chance  to  sell  his  considerable 
holdings,  get  out  of  the  trust  with  a  profit,  and 
range  himself  with  Minot  against  it — to  stand 
once  again  where  he  had  stood  at  first,  and  with 
no  less  fighting  power.  In  itself  this  would  be  a 

289 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

dangerous  blow.  If,  as  Wistar  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve, Penrhyn  and  Sears  had  plunged  on  the 
speculation  in  rubber,  it  was  not  unlikely  to  ruin 
the  trust,  and  both  of  them  with  it. 

Then  came  the  friendly  voice  of  Billy.  "  If 
it's  a  question  of  fight,  old  man,  tell  me  what  to 
do!" 

In  alarm  at  Wistar's  collapse,  Sears,  mindful 
of  his  duty  as  a  host,  had  gone  out  to  summon  the 
nurse.  Penrhyn  had  followed  Smith  into  the  hall. 
Left  alone  with  Billy,  Wistar  outlined  his  plan. 
"  Do  you  think  we  can  do  it?  "  he  asked. 

"  If  you  think  we  can,  I  think  so,  too." 

"  I  think  we  can.  But  are  you  willing  to  follow 
me  into  the  last  ditch?  Even  if  it  ruins  Mr.  Sears 
— and  that  means  Miss  Sears!  Think  of  it,  and 
then  think  of  it  again." 

"Think!  I  can't  think!  All  I  can  do  is  to 
see  red  and  go  blind  with  rage !  " 

"Then  wait  till  you  can  think!  " 

"  In  this  case,  I  don't  have  to.  You  are  a  man ! 
I  am  your  partner,  your  comrade.  Those  others 
— God !  I  didn't  know  there  were  that  kind !  Old 
fellow,  I  stand  with  you  \  " 

Wistar  smiled  with  slow  but  deep  exaltation. 
"  Thank  Heaven !  "  he  said,  "  there  is  still  one 
man  in  this  land."  His  eyes  were  closed  in  pain, 
but  fumbling,  he  found  Billy's  hand.  "  Now  be 
off,"  he  concluded.  "  Watch  the  market  When 

290 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

they  buy,  telephone  me;  I'll  give  the  order  to 
sell.  Don't  worry  about  me.  I'll  rest  a  bit,  and 
then  Minot  and  Miss  Peters  will  take  me  home. 
Call  me  up  here  if  you  have  anything  to  tell' me 
soon." 

The  nurse  and  Minot  had,  in  fact,  already  come 
in,  and  as  Onderdonk  went  out  they  supported 
Wistar  to  the  window  seat,  laid  him  out  on  it, 
loosened  his  few  garments,  and  made  sure  that 
all  was  well  with  his  wound. 

As  they  were  finishing  Sears  came  back  from  the 
study,  now  no  longer  the  harassed  man  of  affairs 
but  the  dignified  and  thoughtful  friend.  He  of- 
fered a  room  and  a  bed,  and  the  services  of  his 
kitchen. 

By  what  skill  of  casuistry  he  had  succeeded  in 
justifying  himself  to  himself  Wistar  did  not  pause 
to  consider.  "  My  dear  sir,"  he  said,  "  I  am  more 
concerned  for  you  than  you  could  possibly  be  for 
me.  I  beg  you  to  believe  me !  This  fight  you 
have  seen  here  to-day  isn't  a  circumstance  to  what 
you  will  have  to  face — only  an  opening  skirmish. 
What  I  intend,  of  course  I  can't  tell  you."  He 
paused,  and  Minot  discreetly  went  out.  "  But  I 
beg  you  to  remember  one  thing:  for  two  years  I 
have  held  this  combination  in  the  palm  of  my 
hand.  I  made  its  strength,  and  I  know  its  weak- 
ness. In  the  end,  if  you  keep  on  with  Penrhyn,  I 
shall  have  to  crush  you  both,  blood  and  bone !  " 

291 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  old  man  shook  his  head.  "  I  have  made 
my  decision,"  he  answered. 

"  But  your  daughter — what  would  be  her  de- 
cision? " 

A  look  of  horror  came  into  the  mild,  dreamy 
eyes.  "  You  won't  tell  Judith !  "  he  almost 
gasped;  and  then  he  pleaded:  "  Her  love  is  all  I 
have  in  the  world.  She  doesn't  understand  af- 
fairs. She  would  despise  me !  Surely,  you  would 
not  turn  her  against  me!  " 

Wistar's  lips  curled  in  scorn.  "  Once,  though 
I  didn't  mean  to,  I  told  her  the  truth.  It  was  not 
a  happy  occasion.  In  the  open  meeting  just  now 
I  told  that  truth  again.  Much  good  it  has  done 
me !  Carry  tales  of  you  to  your  daughter,  who 
loves  you,  believes  in  you  ?  Thank  you,  no  !  Not 
though  your  ruin  is  her  ruin  also,  your  sorrow  her 
sorrow." 

"  I  thank  you,"  the  old  gentleman  said. 

Judith  knocked  at  the  hall  door,  and  looked 
tentatively  in.  "Is  he  all  right?"  she  asked  of 
the  nurse,  who  had  taken  her  station  in  a  far 
corner.  Then,  reading  the  good  news  in  her  face, 
she  came  up  to  Wistar.  "  Thank  Heaven  you 
are  still  alive !  "  she  said. 

11 1  have  nine  lives,  like  a  cat.  Every  one  of 
them  is  wretched."  But  as  he  said  this,  and 
looked  into  her  eyes,  his  face  was  almost  happy. 

She  laughed  gently.  "  Eight  of  them  are  dead, 
292 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

poor  dears.     Won't  you  let  us  put  the  last  little 
life  to  bed?  "     She  laid  a  hand  on  his  shoulder. 

"  It  is  so  much  weller  and  happier  here,  with 
you.  I  haven't  known  in  years  what  it  is  to  rest 
as  I  am  resting  now !  Listen !  I  can  hear  the 
little  life  purring!  " 

She  did  not  answer,  and  Wistar  closed  his  eyes, 
blissful  for  a  moment  in  spite  of  his  grim  resolve. 

Miss  Peters  had  already  slipped  out — to  give 
free  scope,  perhaps,  to  the  charm  in  the  blue  love 
knot  on  the  tail  feathers  of  his  soul. 

Judith  took  her  father  by  the  arm  and  gently 
led  him  to  the  door.  Then  she  came  back  to  Wis- 
tar, and  laid  her  hand  on  the  hair  of  his  forehead. 
"  Our  promise  to  you — we  have  broken  it !  " 

Wistar  was  silent.     With  the  cool  pressure  of 

that  hand  upon  him,  what  use  was  there  for  words? 

'  To  prevent  what  we  have  done,"  she  began, 

and  then  broke  off  with  a  quick  question.     "  What 

have  we  done?  " 

Wistar  did  not  answer. 

'  You  have  risked  your  life  to-day.     And  still 
you  must  fight?  " 

She  was  not  altogether  ignorant  of  affairs,  he 
perceived,  in  spite  of  her  father's  assertion. 

"Shall  you  be  able  to  win?"  she  pursued. 
"Tell  me!" 

He  opened  his  eyes  with  weary  disillusion. 
"  Won't  you  let  me  forget  all  that?  "  he  said. 

293 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Going  to  the  table  drawer  she  took  out  her  ex- 
ecutor's papers,  and  with  them  the  revolver. 
"  Then  my  shares — if  I  sign  these  papers  father 
will  use  them  against  you  ?  Few  as  they  are,  in  a 
close  fight,  they  might  mean  all  the  difference." 

Clearly,  she  knew  more  than  a  little  of  affairs. 
Would  it  be  possible  to  keep  her  in  the  dark  about 
her  father?  About  Penrhyn? 

When  she  spoke  again  it  was  with  sudden  reso- 
lution. "  Your  love  for  me  .  .  .  two  years  ago 
I  made  use  of  it — in  a  matter  of  money !  And 
when  you  did  all  that  I  begged  of  you,  I  forbade 
you  the  house !  " 

Wistar  raised  a  hand  in  deprecation. 

She  held  forth  the  revolver  in  the  palm  of  her 
hand.  "  My  excuse — if  I  have  any  excuse — is 
this!  Father  is  weak.  Oh,  I  know  it!  Better 
than  anybody!  Another  failure — I  didn't  dare 
risk  what  it  might  mean !  But  now  his  honor  is  at 
stake — his  honor  and  mine!  We  promised  that 
we  should  help  you  to  do  what  you  thought  right. 
Tell  me !  Is  it  true  that  you  are  forced  to  fight 
him?" 

He  was  silent  still;  but  she  took  his  silence  for 
assent.  "  From  to-day  I  take  command."  She 
showed  him  the  papers,  and  grasped  them  to  tear 
them  across. 

His  heart  leaped  in  response  to  her  honest,  loyal 
courage.  "  You  are  a  man  I  "  he  cried.  But  he 

294 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

added  quickly:    "  Don't  do  that!     Think  what  I 
have  to  do !  " 

Her  hand  faltered.  "Don't  overvalue  me!" 
she  said,  very  gravely.  "  If  the  worst  comes  to  the 
worst,  what  will  it  mean?  " 

'  What  it  would  have  meant  two  years  ago. 
The  loss  of  everything." 

She  had  been  right.  The  mother  Eve  died  hard 
in  her.  Honest  as  she  was  for  herself,  now  as 
then  she  resented  it  in  the  depths  of  her  heart  that 
this  man  who  loved  her  could  stand  thus  against 
her. 

"  And  still,"  she  said,  "  you  don't  hesitate " 

"  I  foresaw  all  this  from  the  start,"  he  pleaded. 
"  I  have  done  all  a  man  could  do  to  avoid  it.  You 
say  I  have  risked  my  life  to-day.  Do  you  know 
why?  Because  it  was  my  last  hope  of  befriending 
you !  Now " 

She  stood  upright  before  him,  and  the  sunlight 
that  streamed  through  the  window  smote  her  abun- 
dant hair  into  flakes  of  gold.  "  And  now?  "  she 
prompted  him. 

His  manner  was  of  a  sudden  austere,  with 
almost  a  touch  of  ferocity.  "  Now,  I  must  fight, 
though  every  blow  falls  on  your  golden  head." 

'  You  are  the  cave  man,  violent  and  merciless !  " 
Her  tone  was  acccusing;  but  it  was  also  as  if  she 
were  searching  his  heart,  and  were  awed  by  what 
she  found  there. 

295. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"I  am — what  I  am!  " 

Still  she  sought  to  probe  the  depths  of  his  im- 
pulse. '  You  would  make  all  my  life  bare  and 
wretched — ruin  those  I  love — father  who  is  weak 
and  old,  Stanley  who  is  young  and  strong " 

He  raised  himself  to  his  elbow.  "  Penrhyn!  " 
he  said  with  an  outburst  that  was  not  stayed  by  his 
pain.  "  Penrhyn  has  made  you  love  him!  " 

"  I  have  said  I  would  marry  him." 
'  You — marry  Penrhyn !  "  he  repeated  with 
sullen  intensity.  His  heart  cried  out  in  warning 
to  her,  but  he  controlled  it.  He  must  be  silent — 
now  doubly  silent.  Yet  if  ever  he  had  been  merci- 
less, it  was  in  holding  his  peace. 

Penrhyn  came  forward  from  the  study  door. 
How  long  he  had  been  standing  there  Wistar  did 
not  know.  "  You  spoke  so  loud,"  he  said,  quiet 
and  sardonic,  "  so  loud  I  overheard  your — what 
shall  I  call  them?  Congratulations?  " 

The  telephone  rang,  and,  raising  himself  pain- 
fully, Wistar  went  to  the  receiver  on  the  table.  It 
was  Billy,  and  he  detailed  the  worst  of  news.  He 
had  gone  downtown  on  a  subway  express — the 
very  train  Smith  had  taken — and  already  there 
was  evidence  of  heavy  buying.  "  The  sooner  we 
begin,"  said  Billy,  "  the  better." 

"  Go  ahead !  "  Wistar  answered.  "  In  twenty 
minutes  I  shall  be  in  my  rooms,  and  you  will  hear 
from  me."  He  hung  up  the  receiver  with  decision. 

296 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Then  he  turned  to  Penrhyn.  "  You  spoke  of 
congratulations.  Congratulate  me !  To  do  what  I 
must,  I  need  courage.  You  have  given  it  to  me !  " 
'  You  mean  to  fight  us  in  the  market  for  con- 
trol," Penrhyn  answered  with  quiet  assurance,  "  to 
put  me  out  of  office,  and  Mr.  Sears !  " 

It  was  the  idea  Wistar  most  wanted  to  foster. 
"  I  offered  you  a  fight,"  he  answered.  "  You  will 
get  it." 

"  But,  Stanley !  "  Judith  cried.  "  We  promised 
to  stand  with  Mr.  Wistar — to  stand  by  him! 
Whatever  you  do,  I  shall  keep  our  promise." 
With  a  quick  movement  she  tore  the  papers  across, 
and  tore  them  again. 

Wistar's  heart  leaped  to  his  throat.  In  a  close 
fight  for  control,  as  she  had  said,  the  few  hundred 
shares  that  made  up  her  little  fortune  might  have 
turned  the  scale;  but  it  was  a  very  different  fight 
he  had  now  embarked  on.  The  time  was  past 
when  they  could  be  of  any  service  to  him.  But 
what  she  had  done  meant  more  to  him  than  if 
she  had  given  him  the  balance  of  power.  Tears 
streamed  to  his  eyes,  and  to  hide  them  he  turned 
without  a  word  and  left  the  room. 

When  he  had  gone,  she  faced  Penrhyn,  a  ques- 
tion on  her  lips.  But  before  she  could  utter  it  he 
said:  "  I  have  a  lot  to  tell  you;  but  just  now  they 
need  me  in  the  Street.  Good-by!"  And  he  too 
left  her. 

so  297 


W 


CHAPTER    XXXIV 

HEN  the  story  of  Wistar's  manipula- 
tion of  the  market  in  American  Motor 
became  history  he  was  given  credit  for 
one  of  the  brainiest  and  most  subtle 
turns  in  the  recent  chronicles  of  the  Street.  But 
the  fact  was  that  chance,  at  once  the  idol  and  the 
terror  of  the  speculator,  paved  the  way  for  him. 

The  market,  though  strong  and  active  on  the 
whole,  had  been  fluctuating  in  a  manner  for  which 
the  financial  writers  of  the  daily  press  found  it  im- 
possible to  find  an  explanation — or,  rather,  to  find 
the  same  explanation,  for  they  accounted  for  it 
on  widely  different  grounds.  Then  at  the  very 
hour  in  which  the  executive  committee  was  in 
stormy  session,  a  rumor  became  current  that  the 
"  progressive  "  faction  in  the  board  of  directors 
was  about  to  take  command,  and  by  reversing  Wis- 
tar's conservative  policy  to  strengthen  the  hold  of 
the  combination  on  the  industry  and  increase  its 
earnings.  A  sharp  advance  at  once  took  place, 
both  in  the  volume  of  trading  and  in  the  price  of 
sales;  and,  lambs  being  of  the  nature  of  sheep,  the 
advance,  as  frequently  happens,  attracted  the  spec- 

298 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

ulative  public.  No  combination  of  circumstances 
could  have  been  more  fortunate. 

From  the  outset,  though  Wistar  sold  largely,  his 
opponents  and  the  public  bought  more.  The  price 
of  the  stocks  not  only  held  firm,  but  increased,  on 
the  whole,  steadily.  Penrhyn,  meanwhile,  with  a 
recent  and  vivid  impression  of  Wistar's  caliber  as 
a  fighting  man,  easily  mistook  the  activity  for  evi- 
dence that  he  was  buying. 

The  fact  remained,  however,  that  as  Wistar  lay 
in  his  bed  with  the  telephone  beside  him,  he  man- 
aged the  situation  with  admirable  skill.  Almost 
daily  he  was  beset  by  the  financial  reporters  with 
requests  for  an  interview.  At  first  he  refused  to 
see  them,  plausibly  alleging  his  illness.  But  pres- 
ently he  decided  to  ask  them  up  and  submit  to 
their  questions.  Bismarck  used  his  reputation  for 
diplomatic  mendacity  to  make  truth  serve  him  in 
lieu  of  falsehood,  blinding  the  world  to  what  he  in- 
tended by  proclaiming  it  in  precise  terms.  Wis- 
tar's reputation  was  for  sternly  honest,  even  quix- 
otic, conservatism,  and  the  speculative  world  was 
all  the  more  inclined  to  rely  on  it,  because  it  re- 
garded him  as  having  the  dullness  as  well  as  the 
honesty  of  conservatism.  The  advantage  he  took 
of  the  reporters  was  thoroughly  Bismarckian. 

Necessary  as  it  was  to  make  Penrhyn  believe 
that  he  was  buying  with  a  view  to  the  control,  he 
feared  that  if  the  public  became  convinced  of  this 

299 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

it  would  withdraw  from  the  market,  dreading  the 
reaction  that  follows  a  factitious  upward  move- 
ment. He  answered  the  reporters  with  the  words 
and  the  manner  of  truth.  When  they  asked  if 
there  was  not  a  party  bent  on  reversing  his  policy, 
he  admitted  that  there  was;  and  when  they  asked 
if  he  were  not  fighting  in  the  market  to  defeat  it, 
he  answered  that  he  was  not — that  he  had  tried 
this  and  found  it  impossible.  He  neglected  to  say, 
however,  just  what  he  was  doing.  If  the  measure 
of  a  lie  is  its  effect,  then  this  was  a  whopper. 

The  press  credited  Wistar  with  telling  the  lily- 
white  truth,  and  gave  the  impression  that  he  had 
thrown  up  the  sponge.  Financial  editors  are  not 
always  unbiased  observers.  When  a  big  company 
is  floated,  considerable  blocks  of  stock  not  infre- 
quently find  the  way  into  their  possession.  Such 
gifts  are  managed  delicately  and  diplomatically. 
No  service  is  ever  asked  in  return,  no  obligation 
hinted  at.  But  now  the  newspaper  men,  with 
whom  the  promoters  of  American  Motor  had  been 
liberal,  confirmed  the  antique  observation  of  Caius 
J.  Caesar,  the  first  great  American  and  originator 
of  the  double  cross  at  bluff,  that  people  easily  be- 
lieve what  they  wish  to  believe.  For  a  long  time 
they  kept  themselves  and  their  readers  firm  in  the 
conviction  that  Wistar  had  withdrawn  from  the 
conflict,  and  that  an  era  was  at  hand  of  increased 
earnings,  and — what  is  even  more  alluring — of  in- 

300 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

creased  dividends  and  a  consequent  rise  in  the  price 
of  the  stock. 

Penrhyn,  on  the  other  hand,  magnanimously 
gave  Wistar  credit  for  an  able  and  useful  bluff, 
and  continued  to  buy.  This  also  was  what  Wis- 
tar had  counted  on.  The  commonest  fallacy  in 
clever  men  is  to  read  in  others  their  own  particular 
motives  and  methods.  When,  weeks  afterward, 
it  became  known  that  a  plain  man's  single  white  lie 
had  served  the  purpose  of  two  such  notable  decep- 
tions, there  was  admiration  and  envy  in  the  tem- 
ples of  legitimized  thimble-rigging. 

To  maintain  the  attitude  of  strife,  Wistar  and 
Billy  had  at  the  outset  drawn  up  a  call  for  proxies 
— a  circular  letter,  which  they  distributed  among 
the  stockholders,  large  and  small.  It  stated  in 
general  but  forcible  terms  the  nature  of  the  issue, 
and  solicited  all  who  were  honorable  and  patriotic 
to  delegate  to  Wistar  the  power  of  voting  their 
stock.  The  two  had  great  joy  in  concocting  this 
letter,  and  greater  when  they  received  the  few  an- 
swers to  it.  Admiration  was  expressed  for  Wis- 
tar's  principles,  and  sympathy  for  his  prospective 
defeat.  But  even  of  those  who  took  the  trouble 
to  write  not  one  in  ten  declared  for  his  side. 

Billy  divided  the  letters  into  various  piles, 
which  he  labeled  with  the  characters  of  their  send- 
ers. There  were  orphans  acting  by  advice  of  at- 
torney, male  orphans,  who  thus  showed  that  they 

301 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

had  reached  years  of  discretion.  There  were  pil- 
lars of  society  and  pillars  of  the  church.  One  let- 
ter from  a  Fifth  Avenue  clergyman  was  so  long 
and  so  very  explanatory  that  Billy  gave  it  a  place 
by  itself  and  called  it  Gibraltar,  because,  in  the 
words  of  a  university  wit,  it  was  such  a  windy 
bluff.  Professional  coupon  clippers  he  called  white 
mustachers,  and  two  active  directors,  friends  of 
theirs,  he  called  white  waistcoaters.  One  of  their 
correspondents  was  a  kid-glove  socialist,  whose  de- 
termination to  stand  by  "  a  more  vigorous  policy  " 
resulted  from  a  conviction  that  "  the  aggregation 
of  wealth  in  big  corporations  commonly  called 
trusts  was  the  readiest  way  of  demonstrating  the 
fallacy  of  the  prevailing  economic  conditions  and 
the  speediest  road  to  the  socialization  of  industry." 

Miss  Peters,  meantime,  caught  their  spirit,  and 
developed  a  lively  interest  in  the  ticker,  which  had 
been  installed  on  the  side  of  the  bed  opposite  the 
telephone.  Wistar  jocularly  advised  her  to  try  a 
flyer,  boasting  shamelessly  that  he  had  a  sand  tell 
on  the  cards. 

"  Would  it  be  immoral?  "  she  asked.  "  What 
would  the  priest  say — if  I  won  just  enough  to  buy 
my  fall  hat?" 

"  It  would  be  no  more  immoral  than  hats  are 
inartistic,"  Wistar  assured  her. 

She  gave  him  the  money,  and  he  placed  it  for 
her.  When  she  produced  the  hat  she  asked  him  if 

302 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

he  thought  it  very  inartistic.  It  had  a  cup  where 
the  crown  should  have  been,  and  the  cup  was  sur- 
rounded by  roses  which  raked  backward  and  up- 
ward to  a  portentous  altitude. 

"  It  looks  like  a  golf  hole  on  a  bunker,"  he  said. 
"  By  all  the  canons  of  art,  it  is  a  monstrosity." 
On  a  second  glance  he  added,  "  But  it  becomes 
you  wonderfully."  This  was,  indeed,  true,  for  as 
Wistar  now  philosophized,  women  have  a  way 
of  redeeming  their  offenses  against  the  canons 
of  logic  and  art,  as  they  do  those  against  the 
austerer  moral  code — even  of  shining  by  means 
of  them. 

The  incident  reminded  him  of  the  old  matter  of 
Judith's  clothes.  Her  last  chance  of  rehabilitating 
them  was  now  gone.  The  very  sum  he  had  di- 
verted into  this  roof  garden  of  Miss  Peters's  was 
derived,  as  it  were,  from  her.  And  when  poverty 
came,  he  could  not  help  reflecting,  it  would  not 
lessen  her  danger  from  Penrhyn. 

Miss  Peters  was  so  pleased  with  her  first  opera- 
tion in  what  was,  in  one  sense  at  least,  high  finance, 
that  she  took  a  second  flyer — this  time  to  buy  seats 
for  the  Saturday  matinees  of  Miss  Maude 
Adams's  annual  revival  of  "  Peter  Pan."  "  That 
at  least  is  artistic!  "  she  said. 

Reminded  of  the  phrase,  Wistar  again  turned  it 
over  in  his  mind,  this  time  with  reference  to  him- 
self. As  the  weeks  went  by,  steadily  healing  the 

303 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

wound  in  his  side,  and  as  steadily  diminishing  his 
holdings  and  increasing  those  of  his  enemies,  he 
felt  thoroughly  the  artist  in  market  manipulation. 
His  little  turn  in  the  Street  had,  in  fact,  netted  him 
many  round  millions.  And  far  from  feeling  im- 
moral, as  he  would  have  judged  himself  two  years 
ago,  he  felt  only  the  elation  of  skill  and  power. 
Perhaps  women  were  not  the  only  ones. 

But  even  luck  and  skill  combined  could  not 
maintain  the  game  Wistar  was  playing  forever. 
There  came  an  end  to  the  resources  of  the  specu- 
lative public,  and  with  it  an  end  to  Penrhyn's  delu- 
sion. Prices  tumbled  and — what  is  not  always  the 
same  thing — it  seemed  likely  that  values  had  crum- 
bled. 

By  this  time  Wistar  was  on  his  feet  again.  One 
evening  Billy,  who  had  fallen  into  the  way  of 
dining  with  him  at  the  club,  broached  the  matter 
of  the  wedding.  It  was  to  be  by  moonlight  on 
the  lawn  of  the  little  cottage  up  on  the  hills 
above  the  Hudson,  which  was  one  of  the  expres- 
sions of  Mr.  Sears's  new  prosperity;  and  the  re- 
hearsal, a  month  in  advance,  was  already  at  hand. 
May,  whom  Billy  had  told  little  or  nothing  of  the 
recent  course  of  affairs  for  fear  that  he  might  have 
to  tell  her  everything,  had  insisted  that  Wistar 
keep  his  promise  to  be  best  man,  and  to  that  pur- 
pose had  postponed  the  already  long-delayed  cere- 
mony until  his  recovery. 

304 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Wistar  reminded  Billy  of  their  business  pre- 
dicament. Only  a  small  fraction  of  their  stock 
remained,  and  now,  if  ever,  it  was  necessary  to 
come  out  and  sell  in  the  open — to  make  their  final 
assault  upon  the  stronghold  of  the  enemy.  It  was 
the  grand  finish  to  which  they  had  been  working, 
but  the  nearer  they  were  to  the  victory,  the  more 
keenly  they  felt  its  penalty  to  them  both.  "  In- 
tending what  we  intend,"  Wistar  asked,  "  have  I 
the  right  to  enter  so  intimate  a  personal  relation- 
ship?" 

Billy  thought  a  while.  "  It  isn't  up  to  us.  It's 
up  to  them." 

"  But  Mr.  Sears?  You  know,  the  last  time  he 
failed — he  tried  to  kill  himself.  How  is  he  taking 
this  present  run  in?" 

Billy  became  very  serious.  '  You  should  have 
seen  his  face  last  night.  I  never  saw  but  one  face 
like  it." 

"  Dejected — crushed?  " 

"  Not  just  that.  It  reminded  me  of  a  man  in 
college  named  Riggs.  He'd  been  trying  for  the 
varsity  eleven  three  years — crazy  about  football 
from  a  kid,  but  not  quite  good  enough.  His  senior 
year  they  gave  him  his  chance — end  rush.  He 
used  to  sing  and  dance  all  over  the  dressing  rooms. 
Then  a  freshman  came  out — played  all  round  him. 
Riggs  went  pale,  and  the  lines  came  about  his 
mouth.  His  eyes  looked  sick.  But  his  nerves  only 

3°5 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

stiffened,  and  he  played  the  game  of  his  life." 
Billy  paused. 

"  So  that  he  kept  his  position?  " 

"  No.  Had  to  change  with  the  freshman.  He 
broke  down — went  to  pieces — cried  like  a  bull 
pup  all  over  the  place."  Tears  came  to  Billy's 
eyes  at  the  memory. 

"  A  friend  of  yours?  "  Wistar  asked  with  sym- 
pathy. 

'  Yes.  That  is,  I  was  the  freshman.  Every 
time  I  went  through  him  it  made  me  faint  and  sick. 
But  I  had  to  play  the  game." 

"  I  stand  with  you,"  said  Wistar.  "  and  I'll 
stand  up  with  you !  " 


306 


A 


CHAPTER    XXXV 

T  the  end  of  an  hour  with  May  at  the 
dressmaker's,  Judith  sank  upon  one  of 
the  stiff  chairs  ranged  against  the  wall. 
The  fatigue  of  standing  and  stooping, 
fitting  and  refitting,  had  invaded  every  fiber  from 
the  soles  of  her  feet  to  her  brain,  and  had  ended 
by  bringing  upon  her  a  sense  of  detachment — as 
if  her  soul  were  viewing  it  all,  and  even  herself, 
from  far  off  in  the  clear,  cold  altitudes  of  inter- 
stellar space. 

May  stood  in  the  center  of  the  room,  focus  of 
innumerable  mirrors,  partly  clad  in  the  loose- 
stitched  pieces  of  what  was  to  be  her  wedding 
gown — clear,  creamy  laces  that  had  been  her 
mother's  and  grandmother's  before  her,  agreeably 
contrasting  with  the  softly  brilliant  modernity  of 
radium  silk.  Around  her  stood  the  neatly  clad 
fitters,  ripping  out  basting  thread  to  pin  a  seam 
more  tightly,  smoothing  wrinkles  in  the  bodice, 
draping  long  folds  in  the  train.  Her  youthful 
vitality  and  animation,  subdued  to  an  intense  grav- 
ity by  the  momentousness  of  the  work  in  hand,  had 
infused  itself  into  the  entire  group.  These  supe- 

307 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

rior  young  women,  whose  favorite  diversion  was  to 
breathe  disdain  upon  the  very  leaders  of  the  rich 
and  the  great,  were  alive  with  friendly  interest. 
Even  the  head  of  the  house  had  come  in  from  her 
sanctum  to  lend  a  .supervising  eye.  The  little  as- 
sistant, who  ran  small  errands  and  refilled  the  pin- 
cushions hung  at  the  girdles  of  the  fitters,  did  so 
as  if  performing  a  beautiful  rite;  for,  behold, 
among  a  lifetime  of  maidens  arraying  themselves 
to  be  married,  here  was  a  bride  ! 

Judith  saw  it  all,  and  saw  even  more  clearly  that 
she  herself  was  bored.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  interstellar  space,  what  was  life,  what  was  love, 
what  was  marriage — and,  horrid  climax  of  pes- 
simism, what  was  a  wedding  gown !  She  was  not 
one  of  those  who  take  pleasure  in  looking  upon  the 
motley  pageant  of  existence  with  gelid  disdain. 
Above  all  in  the  case  of  her  sister  she  had  meant 
to  be  so  different !  Deep  friends  they  had  always 
been,  and  for  the  past  year,  almost  two  years  now, 
the  exuberant,  unquenchable  happiness  of  the  one 
had  made  an  almost  pitiful  appeal  upon  the  lone- 
liness of  the  other. 

The  child  had  known  no  mother,  and  though 
Judith's  own  memories  of  maternal  tenderness  were 
far  distant,  she  had  caught  at  every  fading  inci- 
dent, warmed  it,  revivified  it,  reincarnated  it  for 
May — the  morning  kiss,  the  embrace  of  good 
night,  little  attentions  to  her  clothes  and  her  good 

308 


THE     C  A  V  E     MAN 

looks,  walks  with  her  by  day  and  long  talks  with 
her  at  bedtime.  She  had  made  them  all  live  for 
herself  with  a  far  more  poignant  tenderness  than 
she  had  ever  felt  in  the  love  of  their  mother;  but 
she  could  not  see  that  they  were  matters  of  mo- 
ment to  her  sister.  She  even  contrived  at  times 
to  leave  May  alone  in  her  happiness.  Yet,  though 
the  thought  proved  quite  obviously  right,  it  was 
quite  as  obvious  that  whatever  she  did  or  did  not 
do  was  of  no  real  consequence.  Already  the  girl 
lived  in  a  different  world  from  hers — the  world  of 
sheer,  unsentient  happiness. 

The  work  on  the  gown  went  busily  forward,  and 
with  it  her  discontent.  In  her  efforts  to  share  her 
father's  increasing  unhappiness  she  had  been  even 
more  deeply  chagrined.  Her  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness told  her — what  was,  indeed,  now  obvious  to 
the  world — that  the  affairs  of  the  motor  combina- 
tion were  in  a  precarious  state,  perhaps  toppling 
to  a  fall.  That  this  meant  the  loss  of  their  little 
fortune  was  the  least  of  her  troubles.  Always, 
beneath  her  deep  love  for  her  father,  and  her  re- 
joicing in  the  tardy  triumph  of  his  ambitions,  she 
knew  his  weakness,  and  feared  it.  And  of  late 
the  hold  she  had  had  on  him  through  their  lifelong 
comradeship  had  strangely  weakened.  He  no 
longer  admitted  her  to  his  confidence,  no  longer 
treated  her  as  one  who  could  and  would  under- 
stand. 

309 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Who  was  to  blame?  Sometimes  it  seemed  to 
her  that  it  was  the  man  who  should  have  united 
them  more  closely — the  man  who  had  offered  as 
an  evidence  of  his  love  for  her  to  make  himself 
her  comrade.  Since  the  day  of  the  stormy  meet- 
ing in  her  house,  when  Penrhyn  had  said  in  leav- 
ing that  he  would  return  to  tell  her  everything, 
he  had  told  her  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing.  She 
was  not  by  nature  suspicious,  and  least  of  all  in  the 
case  of  those  who  were  near  to  her.  She  had  more 
than  her  share  of  the  generous  womanly  instinct  to 
trust  them,  of  the  pride  that  required  her  to  think 
only  the  best  of  them.  Yet  somewhere  something 
was  .wrong.  Possibly  Stanley's  silence  was  the 
result  of  the  recent  stress  of  affairs — mere  procras- 
tination. More  likely  it  was  due  to  some  weakness 
or  error  of  her  father's,  from  the  knowledge  of 
which  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  shield  her.  Neither 
explanation,  however,  was  particularly  flattering, 
for  it  was  her  nature — or  was  it  only  a  foible? — 
to  wish  to  be  indispensable  to  those  she  loved. 
Often  she  had  thought  to  force  their  confidence, 
but  her  dignity — could  it  be  a  subtle  distrust? — 
had  always  prevented. 

And  then  there  was  the  thought  that  she  was 
pledged  some  day  to  array  herself  as  May  was 
arraying  herself  now.  That  raised  her  boredom 
to  the  point  of  a  rebellion  against  fate. 

And  Wistar?  With  the  return  of  prosperity  she 
310 


had  gone  out  with  her  father  into  their  old  world, 
and  once  or  twice  she  had  seen  him  there.  Though 
he  had  been  no  more  than  courteous  to  her,  she  had 
recognized  to  her  surprise,  and  somewhat  to  her 
chagrin,  that  he  was  enjoying  the  world  more  than 
she.  He  had  become  younger,  gayer,  more  inter- 
ested, while  as  for  herself — was  she  really  growing 
old?  Certainly  she  was  finding  less  and  less  of  in- 
terest beyond  her  own  walls. 

When  the  fitting  was  ended,  there  was  a  vacant 
hour  before  taking  the  train  for  the  country,  and 
Judith  suggested  that  they  go  to  the  Home  Stores 
for  tea.  The  position  of  managing  saleswoman 
was  again  vacant,  and  her  interest  in  it  had  some- 
how deepened  with  her  present  mood. 

It  was  matinee  day,  and  the  room  was  a  babble 
of  girlish  enthusiasm.  Among  all  the  bright  frocks 
and  hats  there  was  only  one  gray  coat,  but  Judith's 
eye  had  no  sooner  taken  in  the  outlines  of  the  broad 
back  and  square  shoulders  it  covered  than  she  saw 
in  her  mind's  eye,  with  a  little  start,  almost  shock 
of  surprise,  a  pair  of  grave  eyes  and  a  smile  that 
lurked  in  the  hollows  of  lean  cheeks.  Across  the 
table  from  Wistar  was  Gerty  Minot.  Judith  took 
in  the  situation  in  a  flash.  Wistar  had  at  last  in- 
duced Mrs.  Minot  to  go  to  the  mountains,  and 
with  characteristic  thoughtfulness  was  making  up 
to  the  child  for  the  mother's  absence,  as  well  as 
he  could,  with  a  matinee  and  tea. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

The  only  free  table  was  the  one  next  Wistar's, 
which  had  just  been  vacated,  and  the  attendant  led 
her  to  it.  She  felt  a  moment's  repugnance  at  the 
enforced  encounter,  and  then  a  moment  of  anger 
with  herself  for  feeling  it.  Gerty  got  up,  or  rather 
got  down,  from  her  chair,  with  a  curious  air  of 
being  mistress  of  the  situation.  She  remarked,  with 
a  stately  little  courtesy,  that  the  other  table  was 
dreadfully  mussy,  and  invited  them  to  take  the 
vacant  seats  at  Wistar's  table.  No  woman  of  the 
world  ever  met  a  rival  with  more  polished  scorn. 
Judith  spoke  a  few  words  to  both  Gerty  and  Wis- 
tar,  but  ended  by  sitting  at  the  mussy  table.  She 
was  aware  as  she  did  so  of  a  slight  heightening 
of  color,  and  she  found  herself  wondering  if  it 
would  not  have  shown  less  self-consciousness  if  she 
had  accepted  the  child's  invitation — or  was  it  a 
challenge  ? 

Self-consciousness  !  Never  in  her  life  before  had 
she  felt  it.  To  her  mind  it  was  the  only  disgrace, 
the  one  unforgivable  sin  of  ingrowing  spinster- 
hood.  Yet  all  afternoon  she  had  wallowed  in  it. 

Wistar  betrayed  no  such  concern.  His  manner 
toward  the  child  was  as  attentive,  and  withal  as  un- 
affected, as  if  she  had  been  the  mistress  of  a  salon. 
Judith  remembered  that  at  Gerty's  age  she  had 
shrank  from  those  who  treated  her  as  a  child,  as 
most  people  did,  and  had  adored  the  rare  souls 
who  treated  her  simply  as  a  human  being.  This 

312 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

she  saw — she  could  not  help  seeing  it — was  what 
Wistar  was  doing  now.  And  the  result  was  that 
Gerty  was  beautifully  at  ease — childlike  as  children 
seldom  are. 

After  tea,  the  waitress  brought  Gerty  an  ice,  and 
with  it  three  great  meringue  kisses.  Judith  made  a 
brave  effort  to  confine  her  attention  to  her  conver- 
sation with  May.  But  she  sat  facing  the  other 
table,  and  Gerty's  young  voice  was  as  penetrating 
as  it  was  sweet. 

"  You  don't  like  ices?  "  the  child  asked,  incredu- 
lous at  such  a  defect  in  taste. 

Wistar  shook  his  head. 

"  Then  the  kisses  are  for  you,"  said  the  child. 
"  Don't  eat  that,"  she  added,  pointing  to  one  of 
them  that  had  sadly  fallen.  "  They  didn't  beat 
it  hard  enough  before  baking." 

"  Beat  it?  "  said  Wistar  with  mannish  igno- 
rance. "  It  looks  as  if  the  cook  had  sat  on  it!  " 

Gerty  laughed  as  if  this  had  been  the  most  joy- 
ous stroke  of  wit. 

"  The  other  two,"  Wistar  added,  "  I  will  give 
back  to  you." 

Gerty  looked  at  him  out  of  sphinxlike  eyes. 
"  One  kiss  I  will  take  from  you,"  she  said.  '  The 
other  I  will  give  you — from  me." 

Each  took  his  kiss  gravely,  and  gravely  ate  it. 

Judith  looked  at  the  child  with  frank  amaze- 
ment. Did  she  mean  it  as  it  sounded  ?  Gerty  still 
21  3*3 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

had  the  eyes  of  a  sphinx.  She  looked  at  Wistar. 
Did  he  know  that  he  was  being  shamelessly  flirted 
with?  There  was  only  the  faintest  glimmer  of  a 
smile  on  his  cheeks.  Then  for  the  first  time  Judith 
noticed  that  the  odd,  intense  little  face  that  a  year 
ago  had  seemed  preternaturally  old,  was  taking 
on  lines  of  regularity  and  well-being,  which,  with 
the  luster  of  her  big  eyes,  the  keen  sensibility  of  the 
mouth,  and  the  intelligence  of  her  smile  were  mak- 
ing her  extraordinarily  good  to  look  upon.  The 
most  beautiful  women,  she  remembered,  have  sel- 
dom been  pretty  children. 

When  Wistar  and  Gerty  got  up  to  go  they  said 
a  few  friendly  words.  The  child,  Judith  observed, 
no  longer  paid  her  the  compliment  of  even  seeming 
aware  of  her  triumph. 

After  they  had  gone,  May  was  the  first  to  speak. 
"  When  Gerty  is  twenty,"  she  said,  "  Mr.  Wistar 
will  be  only  a  little  over  forty." 

Judith  answered  on  the  instant.  "  He  will  be 
forty-four !  " 

A  quizzical  look  came  into  May's  face.  "  I 
don't  think  that  too  old." 

"  Some  men  are  never  too  old.  What  is  it  they 
call  them — cradle  snatchers?  " 

May  broke  into  a  peal  of  delighted  laughter. 
"Judy I"  she  cried.  "I  positively  believe  you 
carel" 

Judith  laughed,  too.    "  I  always  care,"  she  said. 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  But  especially  about  Mr.  Wistar!  " 

"  Especially  about  him.  His  kind  don't  happen 
any  more." 

"  Nonsense !     You  will  never  let  them  1  " 

"  None  the  less,  they  don't  happen.  He  is  the 
last  of  the  Mohicans.  And  Gerty  \  " 

It  was  part  of  a  tacit  compact  that  neither  spoke 
of  Penrhyn. 

Her  principal  reason  for  caring  Judith  did  not 
mention.  Of  all  the  people  she  had  known,  men 
or  women,  kindred  or  mere  acquaintances,  he  was 
the  one  to  whom  she  had  meant  most — though  the 
one  toward  whom  she  had  least  thought  to  be  of 
moment.  Her  cheeks  burned  as  she  remembered 
how  she  had  once  tried  to  make  use  of  his  love  for 
her;  and  she  felt  a  stinging  irony  in  the  fact  that 
now,  in  the  end,  he  was  bringing  upon  her  the 
bitterest  defeat  of  her  lifetime.  She  liked  him 
as  little  as  ever.  He  still  seemed  rigid,  unsympa- 
thetic, forbidding.  But  he  was  bigger,  broader, 
more  human  than  he  had  been.  Some  day  he  would 
be  a  great  man  in  the  world  of  great  affairs,  and  it 
was  she  who  had  started  him  on  the  way  of  growth 
and  power. 

And  herself?  She  saw  herself  manager  of  the 
tea  room,  where  he  came  for  tea  on  matinee 
days  with  Gerty  regularly  every  week — she  was 
sure  he  would  do  everything  regularly !  Under  her 
regime  she  would  see  to  it  that  the  cook  did  not  sit 

315 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

on  the  kisses !  The  thought  recalled  his  indifference 
to  her,  and  Gerty's  calm  superiority.  Again  the 
mood  of  self-consciousness !  Her  heart  rose  as  she 
remembered  that  there  was  an  alternative — that  in 
fact  her  promise  had  been  given. 

They  met  Penrhyn  at  the  station,  and  he  took 
the  seat  next  theirs  in  the  train.  He  had  come 
out  for  the  summer  to  a  country  club  near  them. 
Things  had  been  going  badly  that  day  in  the  Street, 
but  at  sight  of  her  he  shook  off  care  and  devoted 
himself  with  all  his  vivacity  and  humor  to  her 
amusement.  He  understood  her,  believed  in  the 
things  she  believed  in,  stood  ready  to  bring  her 
everything  in  life  she  really  cared  for.  The  day  of 
his  great  success  might  be  delayed  by  Wistar's  con- 
servatism; but,  being  what  he  was,  in  the  end  it 
must  come.  As  he  had  said  so  often,  they  were 
made  for  each  other,  and  the  world  was  made  for 
them  both. 


F 


CHAPTER    XXXVI 

OR  two  years  Andrews  had  been  living 
in  ease  and  in  enjoyment  of  the  varie- 
gated activities  of  his  unstrung  emo- 
tional nature.  But,  as  the  quotations 
of  American  Motor  fell  and  tumbled,  he  saw  that 
the  dead  line  of  his  margin  was  increasingly  in 
danger. 

Native  shrewdness,  eked  out  by  his  partial 
knowledge  of  the  inner  workings  of  the  company, 
was  not  long  in  putting  him  in  touch  with  the  situ- 
ation. His  first  impulse  was  to  curse  Penrhyn  for 
his  greed  and  stupidity  in  pushing  Wistar  too  far, 
and  he  yielded  to  it  eloquently.  But  before  long 
he  turned  the  torrents  of  invective  upon  himself. 
He  was  possessor  of  information  fatal  to  the  for- 
tunes and  good  name  of  two  men  of  wealth  and 
position,  and  he  had  used  it  to  no  better  purpose 
than  to  gain  a  monthly  stipend  and  a  few  thousand 
dollars,  both  of  which,  if  the  worst  came  to  the 
worst,  were  now  in  danger.  Clearly,  he  had  lacked 
decision  and  initiative.  Now  if  ever  was  the  time 
to  redeem  his  blunder. 

Waylaying  Penrhyn  at  his  office  door  he  dogged 
31? 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

him  to  his  train  at  the  Grand  Central.  Before  he 
could  engage  him  in  conversation,  however,  the 
young  financier  had  ensconced  himself  in  one  of 
the  Colonial  armchairs  in  the  baggage  car  supplied 
to  card-playing  commuters  by  an  indulgent  man- 
agement, and  was  beginning  a  game  of  bridge. 

Penrhyn  got  off  at  the  station  of  his  country 
club;  but  Wistar  also,  Andrews  found,  was  in  the 
knot  of  men  that  alighted  from  the  train.  There 
was  something  in  the  man  that  always  brought 
Andrews  as  much  of  shame  as  he  was  capable  of 
feeling,  and  in  his  brief  moment  of  irresolution 
Penrhyn  chartered  the  one  land-faring  hack  at  the 
station  and  drove  away  up  the  slope  past  the  club. 

Andrews  started  after  it  afoot,  and,  when  he 
reached  the  highway  that  skirts  the  club  grounds, 
saw  the  vehicle  in  the  distance  turning  up  a  road 
that  led  to  the  heights  commanding  a  view  of  the 
majestic  Hudson.  He  followed  to  the  turning, 
and  sat  down  by  the  roadside.  It  is  the  adage  of 
children  of  the  nursery  and  of  Wall  Street  that 
what  goes  up  must  come  down,  and  when  the  land- 
faring  hack  came  down  Andrews  gave  the  driver 
a  quarter  with  an  easy  air,  and  in  return  learned 
whither  he  had  driven  Penrhyn. 

Half  an  hour  later  he  labored  up  a  flight  of 
stone  steps  that  led  from  the  road  to  the  grounds 
of  a  little  summer  cottage,  which  from  its  lordly 
altitude  commanded  the  full  sweep  of  the  river, 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

thirty  miles  and  more  to  the  Statue  of  Liberty  try- 
ing hard  to  enlighten  New  York.  Mounting  the 
ivied  veranda,  he  pressed  the  button  at  the  door, 
and,  as  he  waited,  turned  and  encompassed  the 
view  with  an  eloquent  sweep  of  his  hand. 

In  the  ancient  serving  woman  who  answered  his 
ring  he  recognized  Mrs.  Boyser.  "  Tell  Mr.  Pen- 
rhyn,"  he  said  with  admirable  poise,  "  that  a  gen- 
tleman here  wants  to  see  him  on  business." 

"  Begging  your  pardon,"  the  old  woman  an- 
swered with  a  no  less  admirable  circumspection, 
"  is  the  gentleman  you?  " 

Andrews  clouded.  "  I  won't  stand  for  none  of 
your  guff,"  he  said. 

"  No  offense  intended.  May  I  ask  what  is  your 
business?  " 

"  Say  it's  his  ice  bill." 

The  old  woman  hesitated,  and  then  went  in. 
Andrews  turned,  and,  his  eye  lighting  on  a  rustic 
seat  that  encircled  an  old  elm  in  the  lawn,  he  sat 
on  it  with  a  determined  air. 

"  Damn  your  impudence!  "  said  Penrhyn,  com- 
ing down  the  steps  with  resolute  strides. 

He  was  in  dinner  dress,  and  the  sight  of  his 
broad  shirt  front  awed  Andrews  for  a  moment. 
But  it  was  only  for  a  moment.  "  Same  to  you,"  he 
vouchsafed  without  rising.  "  What  I  want  to 
know  is  what's  all  this  monkey  tricks  in  the 
Street?" 

319 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Penrhyn  paused  the  fraction  of  a  second,  and 
then,  "  Only  a  little  flurry,"  he  ventured. 

"  Flurry?  Less  than  a  week  ago  my  shares  was 
worth  big  dollars.  Three  days  more  o'  the  same 
and  they  won't  be  worth  doughnuts." 

"  Well,  suppose  you  do  get  it  in  the  neck?  " 

Andrews  surveyed  him  coolly.  "  No  danger 
to  my  neck!  Two  years  ago  Wistar  asked  me 
who  bribed  me  to  crack  his  safe.  Suppose  I  go 
and  tell  him,  heigh?  " 

Penrhyn  smiled  carelessly.  "  I  wouldn't  take 
the  trouble." 

"'Cause  why?" 

"  He  knows." 

Andrews  gave  a  start  of  surprise,  more  con- 
vincing perhaps  than  if  it  had  been  altogether  gen- 
uine. "  Wistar  is  on  it  was  you?  " 

Penrhyn's  smile  broadened,  though  not  with 
geniality.  '  Your  blackmailing  graft  is  played 
out."  Then  he  took  on  a  threatening  tone.  "  If 
you  don't  get  out  of  here  and  stay  out,  I  give  you 
fair  warning,  it's  off  the  ice  wagon  for  you,  and 
onto  the  water  wagon.  Are  you  on?  " 

Andrews  relapsed  against  the  tree  with  thought- 
ful satisfaction.  "  Just  what  I  wanted  to  make 
sure  of — what  raised  such  a  row."  Then  he  leaned 
forward,  held  out  his  open  palm,  and  with  a  few 
telling  strokes  outlined  the  course  of  recent  events. 

Penrhyn  looked  ugly.  It  was  not  a  pleasant 
320 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

way  to  be  reminded  of  his  past  blunder  and  his 
present  plight. 

"Who  did  you  say  got  it  in  the  neck?"  An- 
drews triumphed.  "  Clever  stock  juggler,  Wistar, 
spite  of  all  his  chesty  nonsense  about  trusts." 

It  took  only  a  moment  for  Penrhyn  to  regain 
control  of  himself.  "  You're  off,"  he  said  noncha- 
lantly, "  way,  way  off!  " 

"Am  I?  Then  why  is  it  worth  your  while  to 
interrupt  your  supper  and  pass  the  time  o'  day 
with  a  poor  workingman  ?  Why  is  Wistar  selling 
out?  'Cause  he's  bolting  to  join  Minot  and  the 
rest  of  the  independents  to  smash  the  trust."  As 
he  spoke  he  watched  Penrhyn's  face  narrowly. 
"  Between  Wistar  and  this  here  Eu-ro-peen  com- 
bine, they'll  sock  it  to  youse,  both  goin'  and  corn- 
in'  !  "  He  took  from  his  pocket  the  certificate  of 
his  stock.  "  In  six  weeks  this  here  won't  be  worth 
the  paper  it's  printed  onto.  I'm  on — way,  way 
on  !  I've  got  the  reason  why !  " 

Penrhyn  answered  with  jocular  indulgence. 
"  Then  you  know  what  you  could  get  cold  thou- 
sands for  on  the  Street.  All  you've  got  is  cold 
feet.  If  you're  afraid  the  slump  is  going  any  far- 
ther, I'll  advance  you  a  few  hundred  on  your  ice 
bill  to  tide  you  over." 

"  So,  after  all,  my  graft  isn't  quite  played  out, 
heigh?"  Andrews  laughed.  "You  want  me  to 
wait  till  you've  busted  Wistar.  And  where'll  I  be 

321 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

if  he  busts  you?  Work  all  the  week,  and  preach- 
ing in  Madison  Square  to  drown  the  hot  coppers 
in  my  gullet!  7  guess  nit\  I  know  both  o'  you, 
and  the  man  gives  me  cold  feet  is  Wistar.  It's  up 
to  you  to  give  me  the  cold  thousands  for  these  here 
shares."  He  paused  a  moment,  and  then  con- 
cluded with  resolution:  "Unless  you  fork  over, 
here  and  now,  I  tell  what  I  know  to  my  broker. 
See?" 

"  Believe  you — a  jail  bird?  " 

Penrhyn's  tone  was  still  jocular  and  indulgent; 
but  the  striped  suit  is  not  a  jest  to  those  who  have 
been  inside  it.  "  None  o'  your  insults!  "  Andrews 
cried.  "  Suppose  I  agree  to  sell  that  story  to  the 
newspapers?  You  and  the  old  man  traitors  and 
thieves!  My  broker  could  go  short  and  make 
thousands !  Your  game  and  the  old  man's  reputa- 
tion knocked  higher  than  a  kite,  heigh?"  His 
resentment  spent,  he  paused,  and  watched  Pen- 
rhyn's face  with  intense  cunning.  '  The  mere 
price  o'  the  shares  is  a  song.  Give  me  five  thou- 
sand dollars  for  'em,  or  I  peach  to-morrow !  " 

Penrhyn  did  not  speak. 

Andrews  saw  his  opportunity.  Thrusting  the 
certificate  into  his  pocket,  he  strode  toward  the 
gate.  "  Good-by,"  he  said,  over  his  shoulder.  "  I 
hate  to  do  you  dirt,  Penrhyn,  but  you've  had  your 
chanct." 

'  Wait  a  minute !  "  Penrhyn  called  after  him, 
322 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

alarm  overcoming  his  inward  rage.  "  I  haven't 
the  money  here.  What  do  you  want  me  to  give 
you?  A  check?" 

"  Why  not?  You're  in  the  mud  as  deep  as  me. 
Only,  not  to  be  promiscuous  with  my  signature, 
you'll  have  to  cash  it  for  me  in  the  morning,  and  let 
me  tear  it  up." 

Glancing  about  to  make  sure  they  were  alone, 
Penrhyn  took  out  a  pen  and  a  check  book  and 
wrote. 

"  That's  the  ticket  for  soup !  "  Andrews  ap- 
plauded. 

"Wait  a  minute!"  Penrhyn  said.  "I'm  get- 
ting tired  of  that  little  matter  of  the  ice  bill."  He 
held  out  the  check  to  the  other's  view.  "  I'll 
give  you  another  thousand  in  the  morning  if 
you'll  sign  some  little  papers  that  will  close  the 
books  between  us." 

Andrews  thought  a  moment.  Now  that  Wistar 
had  learned  the  truth  his  secret  was  clearly  of  value 
only  in  a  crisis  like  the  present.  "  Sure,  Mike!  " 
he  concluded.  As  he  pocketed  the  check  he  smiled 
complacently.  At  the  outset  he  had  been  amazed 
at  Penrhyn's  amateurish  neglect  in  failing  to  pro- 
tect himself  against  blackmail.  "  The  trouble  with 
you,  Penrhyn,"  he  said,  "  is  that  you  haven't  quite 
got  your  hand  in  at  this  sort  of  thing.  What's  that 
the  poet  says  ?  *  Oh,  'tis  a  tangled  web  we  weave 
when  first  we  practice  to  deceive.'  But  when  we've 

323 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

done  it  onct  or  twice,  we  learn  the  trick  that  cuts 
the  ice." 

As  Andrews  was  turning  to  go,  Boyser  came 
out  and  announced  that  coffee  was  served  in  the 
library. 

Seeing  her,  Andrews  dug  his  heel  in  the  turf  and 
swung  about. 

"  I  ain't  had  my  supper  yet,"  he  said  in  a  low 
voice  to  Penrhyn.  "  Her  nibs  here  wanted  to 
know  just  now  if  I  was  a  gentleman.  When  this 
sort  of  thing  passes  between  gentlemen,  they 
gen'lly  wet  it,  don't  they?  " 

In  another  minute  the  entire  party  would  be  sit- 
ting behind  the  open  windows  of  the  porch,  if  they 
were  not  already  there.  It  was  not  the  time  to 
stand  between  a  dog  and  his  bone,  and  Penrhyn 
could  not  hustle  Andrews  away  without  attract- 
ing notice.  "  Oh,  Boyser,"  he  said,  "  here's  a 
man  who, has  brought  me  a  message  from  town. 
Give  him  a  bite  in  the  kitchen,  and  let  him 
out  the  back  gate."  He  offered  her  a  bill,  but 
she  turned  her  eyes  from  it,  and,  coming  out  on 
the  lawn,  led  Andrews  about  the  house  to  the 
back  door. 

"  None  o'  your  little  nips,  Missis,"  Andrews 
said,  cheerfully.  "  I  hoofed  it  all  the  way  from 
the  deepoe.  What  I  want  is  a  square  five  fingers." 

As  he  disappeared  in  the  shrubbery,  Judith  came 
out  on  the  veranda,  with  a  dubious  glance  at 

324 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Penrhyn:  "Andrews!"  she  said.  "Here — with 
you?" 

It  was  a  matter  of  months  since  he  promised 
her  an  account  of  the  situation.  From  day  to  day 
he  had  intended  to  make  what  explanation  he  could. 
He  had  it  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue.  But  no  one 
was  more  conscious  of  its  inadequacy  than  he,  and 
there  was  something  in  the  clear  rectitude  of  her 
mind  that  had  kept  the  words  unspoken.  Now  a 
thing  had  happened  which  put  him  almost  hope- 
lessly on  the  defensive. 

"  The  bad  penny,"  he  said.  "  You  know  the 
proverb." 

"  '  The  proverb  is  somewhat  musty,'  '  she 
quoted,  looking  him  gently  in  the  eyes.  '  You 
have  asked  me  to  give  up  forever  the  hope  of 
love,"  she  added,  laying  her  two  hands  on  his 
shoulders.  "  Be  sure  what  you  offer  is  true  com- 
radeship." 

"  As  for  Andrews,  he's  been  speculating  in  our 
stock  in  a  small  way,  and  his  margin  is  in  danger. 
He  followed  me  up  here  to  get  a  tip."  She  was 
silent.  "  Of  course,  I  couldn't  advise  him;  but  he's 
a  poor  devil,  and  I  gave  him  enough  money  to  buy 
him  a  meal  and  a  bed  till  he  can  get  work  again." 

Still  she  was  silent,  and  he  felt  impelled  to  go 
on: 

"  As  for  Wistar,  what  he  wants  is  you.  It  was 
to  please  you  he  came  in  with  us,  giving  up  his 

325 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

principles,  about  which  he  talked  so  loudly.  And 
now  that  has  failed,  he  has  made  this  grand-stand 
play  to  save  Minot,  in  the  hope  of  impressing  you 
and  discrediting  me." 

"That  is  not  like  him.  Are  you  quite  fair? 
How  can  it  be  right  to  ruin  Mr.  Minot  in  cold 
blood?" 

"  Ah,  that's  the  question  I've  feared !  The 
question  that  I've  hesitated,  all  these  weeks,  to  take 
up  with  you !  You  know  something  of  evolution 
in  biology.  The  same  laws  operate  in  society  and 
business.  Minot  is  one  of  the  unfit."  As  they 
were  talking  she  had  passed  to  a  bed  of  roses  that 
lay  along  an  old  stone  wall  by  the  roadside,  and 
was  now  plucking  a  cluster  to  carry  into  the  house. 
"  When  these  first  began  to  bud,"  he  said,  "  I  saw 
you  cutting  off  the  small  early  buds — to  make  these 
larger  and  more  beautiful." 

"  It's  a  very  pretty  simile  for  a  very  ugly  thing. 
And  Mr.  Wistar — is  he  also  one  of  the  unfit?" 
She  smiled  at  him,  at  once  subtly  and  frankly. 

"  When  he  takes  sides  with  Minot  he  becomes 
so !  It  lies  in  our  power  to  develop  this  industry 
like  the  American  Beauty  rose — to  meet  our  for- 
eign rivals,  even  to  beat  them.  Progress  by  the 
death  of  the  unfit — if  any  man  had  invented  it,  it 
would  be  called  murder  and  greed!  But  it  was 
ordained  by  a  power  as  much  greater  than  our 
own  as  it  is  unknowable.  All  we  can  be  sure  of 

326 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

is  that  it  is  the  only  means  by  which  the  wise  and 
strong  survive.  These  are  your  father's  ideas,  and 
I  count  it  an  honor  to  be  associated  with  him  in 
realizing  them." 

She  glanced  at  him  ruefully  and  shrugged  her 
shoulders.  "  But  there's  always  the  question — 
just  who  are  the  unfit?  I  don't  think  you  feel  as 
fit  as  you  did  a  month  ago.  The  old  look  has  come 
back  into  father's  eyes.  For  myself,  I  feel  as  if 
I  had  hung  up  for  weeks  like  a  suit  of  clothes  in 
a  Bowery  misfit  shop.  What  does  it  all  mean?  " 

Penrhyn's  face  became  hard  and  set,  but  when 
he  spoke  it  was  with  courage  and  conviction.  "  It 
looks  now  as  if  Wistar  intended  to  join  Minot  in 
his  fight  against  us.  It  will  be  a  hard  fight  and 
a  long  one.  But  we  are  right  and  we  are  stronger. 
In  the  end  we  shall  win!  " 

"  For  father's  sake,  I  hope  so.  But  I  am  sorry, 
very  sorry,  that  you  waited  to  tell  me  all  this  until 
matters- have  come  to  such  a  pass." 

She  started  toward  the  house  with  the  flowers, 
and  was  met  at  the  door  by  Boyser. 

'  That  man,  in  the  kitchen,"  the  old  woman 
said,  "  he's  drinking  up  the  whole  bottle  and  in- 
sultin'  of  Mary." 

By  this  time  Penrhyn  was  not  in  a  pleasant 
mood.  "I'll  settle  him!"  he  said,  between  his 
teeth,  striding  toward  the  back  door. 

"Wait,  Stanley!"  Judith  cried  after  him. 
327 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Penrhyn  stopped  short.  "  Is  it  quite  the  place 
for  you?  " 

"  I  am  the  mistress  of  the  house,"  she  said.  "  In 
this  matter  you  might  at  least  consult  me."  Then, 
as  if  to  soften  the  rebuke,  she  added:  "  Don't  you 
think  it  will  be  easier  for  me  to  shame  him  into 
behaving?  If  not,  then  you  can  use  stronger 
measures." 


328 


i 


CHAPTER    XXXVII 

T  was  the  evening  of  the  wedding  re- 
hearsal; but  as  Mr.  Sears  sat  in  the 
library  sipping  his  coffee,  even  the 
eager  and  light-hearted  May  became 
aware  that  he  was  in  no  cheerful  mood.  With 
the  imperfect  sympathy  of  girlhood,  she  tried  to 
gladden  him  by  talking  of  the  event  that  to  her 
was  all-important  and  all-joyful;  but  his  response, 
she  found,  was  not  all  the  subject  deserved.  Even 
Onderdonk  was  glum.  Slipping  her  arm  into  his, 
she  led  him  out  of  doors. 

"  What  is  it  all  about?  "  she  asked.  "  If  I  had 
stayed  in  there  another  second  I  should  have  been 
stifled!" 

"  A  little  business  worry,"  he  said,  fingering  his 
unlighted  cigar. 

She  looked  at  him  reproachfully.  "  Remember ! 
We're  to  share  everything,  troubles  as  well  as  hap- 
piness, little  and  big !  " 

In  their  long  engagement  Billy  had  learned  to 
play  a  good  husbandlike  hand  at  affectionate  dis- 
simulation. "  Stocks  are  down,"  he  said,  as  if  im- 
parting a  secret  of  state. 

22  329 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  But  aren't  they  always  going  up  and  down  ? 
Isn't  that  what  they're  made  for?  " 

"  You're  right  there  1  "  said  Billy. 

"  Well  then,  you  might  be  just  a  little  cheerful 
for  my  wedding  rehearsal!  " 

He  laid  an  arm  about  her  shoulder. 

She  slipped  away  fro*m  him,  and,  with  an  en- 
raptured glance  at  the  heavens,  "  What  a  per- 
fectly lovely  night!"  she  rejoiced.  "I  do  hope 
our  day  will  be  like  this !  " 

Beyond  the  distant  Palisades  the  sun  had  set  in 
splendor.  Upon  the  verdure-covered  crags  be- 
neath the  western  heavens  a  crimson  mantle  had 
fallen,  like  the  bloom  of  a  damask  plum.  The 
broad  waters  of  the  river,  heaving  with  long,  dead 
swells  from  the  southeast,  reflected  and  mingled 
in  a  web  of  exquisite  variegation,  delicate  mauve 
from  the  sunset  and  clear  green  from  the  sky  over- 
head. The  full  moon  rose  in  the  east  over  the 
Pocantico  hills,  and  down  from  it  a  pale  but  in- 
creasing radiance  filtered  upon  the  whole  broad 
landscape. 

"  It  certainly  is  a  corker !  "  said  Billy,  sitting 
on  the  bench  beneath  the  tree. 

May  slapped  a  mosquito  on  her  delicately  mod- 
eled and  athletic  forearm. 

"  Come  along,"  Billy  said,  starting  toward  an 
arbor  on  a  knoll  out  beyond,  "  I'll  smoke  up  and 
drive  away  the  mosquitoes." 

330 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

But  May  did  not  go,  for  just  then  the  silken 
purr  of  a  motor  stole  up  through  the  gathering 
dusk  from  the  sunken  road  beneath  them,  and 
presently  Wistar  mounted  the  stone  steps.  He 
wore  a  dinner  jacket  and  straw  hat,  and  held  a 
cream-white  motor  coat  over  his  arm. 

May  blew  him  a  delighted  kiss.  "  Now  we're 
all  ready!  "  she  said,  and  ran  into  the  house. 

"Any  news  from  the  Street?"  asked  Billy. 
Even  when  he  had  left  the  office  to  catch  an  early 
train  everybody  was  talking  Motor,  and  he  had 
run  a  gantlet  of  reporters. 

"  The  same,  only  more  so.  And  they're  having 
no  end  of  trouble  with  that  plunge  in  rubber.  It 
looks  now  as  if  it  were  off." 

According  to  Wistar's  reports  from  South 
America,  Ryan  and  his  associates  were  throwing 
down  their  hands  in  disgust.  It  is  one  thing  to  buy 
a  Latin-American  republic,  and  another  to  make 
it  stay  bought.  Wistar  had  done  his  best  to  noise 
abroad  the  rumor  of  the  proposed  monopoly,  and 
the  effect  was  what  he  had  planned.  Already  in 
two  cases  the  very  men  who  had  profited  by  the 
sale  of  a  concession  had  headed  revolutions  against 
their  own  government  for  the  purpose  of  captur- 
ing it  and  selling  the  concession  again.  The  great 
rivers  of  the  rubber  countries  were  bordered  with 
quicksands  for  the  sinking  of  American  millions. 

"  If  we  keep  to  our  plan,"  Wistar  concluded, 
331 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  we  shall  have  to  come  out  in  the  open  to-morrow 
and  sell  to  bust  them.  Are  you  still  game?  " 

"Still  game.    And  you?" 

"  I  should  like  to  put  it  up  to  Mr.  Sears  once 
more." 

The  door  opened,  and  May  came  out,  leading 
her  father  by  the  hand.  "  Where  do  you  think 
Judy  is?"  she  cried.  "In  the  kitchen,  arguing 
and  persuading  with  a  tipsy  tramp.  Wait  just  a 
minute  till  I  get  her!  "  And  she  vanished  into  the 
house. 

"  Can  you  leave  us?  "  Wistar  said  in  a  low  voice 
to  Billy. 

Billy  started  to  follow  May,  but  with  a  glance 
at  his  cigar  he  lighted  it,  and,  thrusting  his  hands 
in  the  pockets  of  his  dinner  jacket,  turned  on  his 
heel  toward  the  arbor. 

The  two  men  faced  each  other.  The  lines  about 
the  old  gentleman's  clear-cut  and  delicate  lips  were 
drawn  and  haggard.  The  soft  wrinkle  that  once 
had  pleasantly  framed  his  refined  and  pointed  chin 
had  become  a  furrow,  and  his  mild  blue  eyes  were 
without  expression. 

But  it  was  he  who  spoke  first.  "  Your  promise 
not  to  tell  Judith,"  he  said,  in  a  dry  metallic  voice 
— "  you  have  kept  it,  and  I  thank  you.  You  have 
fought  hard,  but  you  have  fought  fair." 

"Did  I  promise?"  Wistar  asked.  "I'd  for- 
gotten." The  fact  that  Mr.  Sears  had  treasured 

332 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

such  a  promise  would  have  seemed  contemptible  if 
it  had  not  been  pitiable.  Two  years  ago  he  would 
have  known  that  there  was  no  need  of  such  a 
pledge. 

"  All  the  more,"  Sears  said,  "  I  thank  you  for 
sparing  her." 

"  Sparing  her?  "  Wistar  cried.  "  Do  you  real- 
ize what  it  is  costing  her — what  life  will  mean  to 
such  a  woman,  married  to  such  a  man !  " 

A  look  of  surprise  came  into  the  pale  old  face, 
and  with  it  a  look  of  terror.  "  She  can't  care  for 
him!" 

"She  has  told  me  that  she  does!  I  have  no 
right  to  warn  her.  But  you  have.  More  than 
that,  if  you  will  permit  me  to  say  so,  it  is  your 
duty!" 

The  old  face  became  tense  with  pain,  but  at  the 
same  time  set  with  obstinacy. 

For  a  moment  Wistar  regarded  him  with  un- 
mingled  scorn.  Then  he  commanded  himself,  and 
delivered  his  ultimatum  and  Billy's.  Another  day 
would  see  the  ruin  of  all  Mr.  Sears  had  hoped  for, 
striven  for. 

"Billy  would  do  that!" 

"  He  insists  on  it.  Once  your  sole  aid  was  all 
we  needed.  I  asked  you  for  it,  and  you  refused  it. 
So  it  has  come  to  this." 

In  the  pause  that  followed,  May  led  Judith  and 
Penrhyn  out  to  join  them. 

333 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

From  time  to  time  Sears  had  been  mechanically 
brushing  the  mosquitoes  from  their  attacks  on  his 
delicate  skin — a  gesture  which  to  Wistar's  mind 
had  lent  a  not  inappropriate  touch  of  triviality  to 
his  figure.  Now  he  made  an  excuse  of  the  pests  to 
go  indoors,  and  with  a  low  spoken  word  bade  Pen- 
rhyn  to  follow.  Wistar  could  not  help  hoping  that 
his  words  had  had  weight. 

"  Poor  father!  "  said  Judith,  as  she  gave  Wis- 
tar her  hand.  "  He  got  all  the  people  in  the  coun- 
try round  to  combine  in  a  trust  against  the  mosqui- 
toes. But  there's  one  obstinate  farmer  won't  let 
us  put  a  drop  of  kerosene  on  his  marsh.  Our 
neighbors  over  on  the  Pocantico  hills — Standard 
Oil,  you  know! — they've  tried  to  bully  him  into 
selling  his  land,  and  he's  using  the  mosquitoes 
from  his  marsh  to  get  even.  Another  of  father's 
poor  syndicates  bust!  " 

They  laughed,  with  what  gayety  they  could 
command. 

"  It's  worse  than  pigs  in  clover,"  May  com- 
plained, "  to  get  you  all  together.  Now  where's 
the  Bishop  to  stand  ?  "  She  took  up  a  garden  rake, 
and  stuck  it  upright  in  the  bed  of  roses.  "  There," 
she  said;  "that's  the  Bishop!  " 

"  That !  "  laughed  Wistar.  "  The  good  Bishop 
a  rake  !  You  slander  the  Subway  Tavern  !  "  Tak- 
ing his  overcoat  from  the  bench,  he  draped  it  over 
the  head  of  the  rake,  and  then  paused,  a  smile 

334 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

beaming  in  the  hollow  of  his  cheek.  "  Yet  we  need 
just  a  soupcon  of  the  rake  !  "  He  spread  the  collar 
so  that  the  teeth  were  visible.  "  There !  "  he  said. 
"  No!  Wait!  "  He  picked  up  a  flower  pot  and 
perched  it  on  top.  "  There  you  have  the  Bishop  to 
the  life !  Now  we  shall  be  married !  " 

"  First,"  said  Judith,  looking  mysteriously  at  a 
card  in  her  hand,  "  I  think  we'd  better  be  in- 
vited !  The  engravers  have  just  sent  this  back  to 
know  if  it's  all  right." 

May  looked  at  the  card  with  a  critical  eye.  "  Of 
course  it's  all  right.  I  wrote  it  out  myself !  '  The 
wedding  of  his  daughter,  May  Honoria  Rhine- 
lander,  at  Suncliff,  Ardsley-on-Hudson  ' — I  think 
it  reads  beautifully!  " 

Judith  looked  over  her  shoulder.  "  Is  it  your 
idea  that  at  a  wedding  a  groom  is  superfluous?  " 

"  I  clean  forgot  to  put  Billy  in !  That's  why 
they  sent  it  back!  "  She  took  a  pencil  Wistar  of- 
fered her  and  scribbled  in,  "  to  William  Van  Rens- 
selaer  Onderdonk."  Then  she  ran  up  the  steps 
and  called,  "  Come,  father !  Come,  Mr.  Penrhyn ! 
Everything's  ready!  " 

"  Is  everything  ready?  "  asked  Wistar. 

"Except  the  cup,  and  Boyser  is  mixing  that!  " 

"  And  the  music — I  brought  it  from  town  with 
me ;  it  will  be  here  in  a  minute*.  And  is  that  every- 
thing? " 

"  Music?    How  sweet  of  you!     It's  more  than 

335 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

I  dreamed !  You  regular  lambkin  pie !  "  She 
leaped  lightly  up  on  her  toes  and  kissed  him  on  the 
lips. 

With  his  two  hands  on  her  shoulders  he  held 
her  on  tiptoe  a  moment.  "  Now  I  agree  with  you," 
he  said.  "  At  a  wedding  a  groom  is  superfluous !  " 

"  Billy?  Isn't  he  here?  I  know  Donkey  will 
spoil  my  wedding !  Where  did  he  go  !  " 

"  He  seems  to  be  aware  how  superfluous  he  is," 
Wistar  laughed.  "  Perhaps  you'll  find  him  out  in 
the  arbor,  smoking!  " 

She  stood  still,  half  afraid  to  leave  them.  "  Un- 
til I  come  back,  don't  you  dare  stir  from  this 
spot !  "  Then,  with  her  lithe,  girlish  stride,  she 
fled  toward  the  arbor. 

"  We'll  call  you,"  Wistar  cried  after  her, 
"  when  the  music  comes!  " 

Then  he  turned  to  Judith,  and  in  the  moment 
his  mask  of  gay  spirits  fell  from  him. 


336 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII 

UDITH  smiled  at  him  a  little  sadly. 
"  It  pleases  my  lord  to  be  merry !  Very 
soon,  now,  they  say,  you  will  stand 
alone  again  and  fighting  against  us,  as 
you  were  before  we  came  meddling  by.  You  expect 
to  win?  " 

"Unfortunately,  I  do!" 

"Unfortunately?" 

''  Times  have  changed — and  I  with  them.  Oh! 
I  have  learned  something.  The  things  I  have  been 
able  to  do,  and  the  vastly  greater  things  I  have 
come  to  hope  for — they  make  my  old  ambitions 
seem  petty  enough.  I  have  known  the  strength 
and  security  of  well-regulated  industry  and  I  have 
to  go  back  to  the  old,  haphazard  conditions. 
Worse  than  that,  I  am  driven  to  violence.  Day 
and  night  I  think  of  you — in  poverty ! — of  myself, 
when  I  have  brought  you  there." 

The  crimson  of  the  sunset  had  deepened  to  pur- 
ple, and  now  the  twilight  was  rising  from  the  val- 
leys like  a  mist,  dim  and  mysterious,  in  the  increas- 
ing effulgence  of  the  moon. 

From  the  road  below  them  came  low,  guttural 

337 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

voices,  and  presently  the  musicians  panted  up  the 
steps  toward  them,  carrying  their  instruments  be- 
neath their  arms. 

"A  lidtle  mooseek,  poss?"  asked  the  leader, 
puffing. 

Wistar  distrusted  German  bands.  "  Yes,"  he 
said,  "  but  don't  make  a  racket." 

"  Racket!  And  sooch  an  effening!  "  He  dis- 
posed his  men  at  a  distance  in  the  shrubbery,  and 
struck  up  an  old,  soft  evening  song — so  poetically, 
so  exquisitely  attuned  to  the  moment  that  it  seemed 
like  the  very  atmosphere  transmuted  to  sound. 

Judith  had  passed  to  the  bed  of  roses,  and  her 
long,  agile  fingers  were  busy  among  them.  The 
perfume  from  them  seemed  to  Wistar  the  perfect 
attar  of  the  hour,  and  of  her. 

"  What  would  you  think,"  he  said,  "  if  to  spare 
you  I  were  to  join  them  in  ruining  Minot?  " 

She  did  not  cease  plying  her  fingers.  '  That 
you  cared  for  me  very  much,"  she  said. 

"  And  now  you  think ?  " 

She  glanced  up  at  him  archly,  yet  sadly.  "  What 
do  you  suppose?  " 

"  I  am  a  man,  and  I  am  striking  at  those  you 
love  best — at  you !  " 

"And  I  am  a  woman!  If  I  choose  not  to  say 
what  I  think?" 

'  You  told  me  once — the  cave  man,  brutal  and 
merciless  I  " 

338 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

She  looked  at  him,  wavering  between  her  old 
fear  and  a  new  audacity.  Audacity  conquered. 
She  plucked  a  rose  and,  standing  straight  beneath 
his  chin,  guided  the  stem  through  the  loop  in  his 
lapel,  her  draperies  brushing  his  coat. 

Once,  in  an  impulse  of  generous  sympathy  for 
Minot,  she  had  laid  her  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and 
even  then  he  had  put  her  away  from  him  in  fear. 
Now  she  was  personal,  captious,  provocative.  She 
stood  tiptoe  on  the  brink  of  his  love  for  her — the 
love  that  for  years  had  been  his  whole  life — and 
blew  a  kiss  down  into  the  abyss  of  it.  His  strong 
arm  trembled  to  the  shoulder,  and  his  knees  shook 
beneath  him.  His  clearer  senses,  his  habitual  self- 
control,  melted  like  frost  before  fire.  In  another 
moment  she  must  have  known  the  fate  she  was 
braving.  But  in  a  moment  her  coquetry  vanished 
in  an  outburst  of  comradely  good  will. 

"No!  Not  brutal,  not 'merciless!  Poor  father 
— I  have  always  loved  him  above  everything  else 
in  the  world.  But  to  save  him  by  making  you 
false  to  what  you  hold  right — by  making  you 
ruin  your  friend,  my  friend — you  have  not  of- 
fered to  do  that  for  me,  and  I  thank  you !  Blow 
after  blow,  as  it  falls,  it  will  be  terrible — terri- 
ble to  feel  your  hand  in  it  all !  Yet  I  shall  not 
blame  you !  "  She  gave  him  both  hands,  impul- 
sively. 

The    passion   of  the   blood    faded   before    the 
339 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

mightier  passion  of  the  spirit.  He  took  her  hands, 
and  looked  down  into  her  eyes,  shining  with  moon- 
light and  with  tears.  '  You  are  a  woman !  "  he 
said,  his  voice  vibrating  like  a  viol.  "  Always  I 
shall  love  you !  For  your  justice  and  your  honor, 
for  your  grace,  your  beauty,  for  your  loyal  heart ! 
Miserable  as  I  am,  more  miserable  as  I  shall  be,  it 
means  much  that  with  every  thought,  every  feel- 
ing— I  don't  use  the  word  lightly — I  worship 
you !  "  His  voice  choked,  but  he  presently  man- 
aged to  say:  "You  forgive  me  for  telling  you 
this? — It  is  our  last  hour!  " 

"  If  you  are  so  determined  to  say  good-by " 

"  Can  I  bear  to  see  you  happy — happy  with 
Penrhyn !  " 

"  It  seems  I'm  not  to  be  happy !  " 

"  Then  Heaven  help  me — if  my  path  crosses 
yours!  " 

"  What  I  meant  was  that — since  you  are  de- 
termined to  say  good-by — you'll  have  to  let  go  my 
hands!" 

He  looked  down  at  her  palms  which  he  held 
as  a  child  might  hold  them.  Then  he  blushed  like 
a  child,  and  let  them  fall. 

"  Bugaboo !  "  she  laughed.  "  To  think  I  ever 
was  afraid  of  you!  You  great  big  bear!  You 
huge  boy !  Hasn't  anyone  ever  called  you  Jim  ?  " 

He  shook  his  head.  "  I  once  told  you — I'm  a 
very  serious  person." 

340 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  If  it  will  make  you  any  less  serious,  I'll  call 
you  Jim." 

"Then  it  is  good-by — Judith!  " 

Somehow  he  had  got  hold  of  her  hands  again. 
Mockingly  she  lifted  their  united  palms  between 
them,  and  held  them  up  to  his  gaze.  He  loosened 
his  grasp,  and  her  fingers  slipped  gently  out 
of  his. 

She  stood  a  moment,  as  if  not  quite  knowing 
what  to  do  with  them.  Then,  with  a  sudden  im- 
pulse, she  caught  the  tips  of  his  ears  and  drew 
down  his  head  until  his  cheek  lay  upon  hers. 

u  Good-by,  Jim,"  she  said.  Then  she  laughed 
and  added  the  rest  of  the  poetical  line:  "  '  Take 
keer  of  yourself.'  '  What  she  might  mean  by  this 
she  did  not  make  known,  but  fled  from  him,  and 
paused  only  when  she  had  passed  out  beyond  the 
musicians  toward  the  arbor.  Then  "May! 
May!  "  she  called,  and  her  voice  rang  clear  and 
gay  through  the  twilight.  "  Don't  you  hear? — 
The  music!  " 

Sears  and  Penrhyn  came  out  and  joined  her. 

"  They  don't  hear!  "  she  said,  still  on  the  wings 
of  wilding  gayety.  "  Look  at  them !  Or  rather 
don't  look !  "  She  took  first  Penrhyn  and  then 
Wistar  by  the  shoulder  and  swung  them  about. 
"  Daddy!  Will  you  get  them?  In  such  cases,  I 
believe,  it  is  always  the  stern  parent  who  intrudes." 

"  Why  intrude?  "  said  Wistar.  "  Isn't  that  the 
341 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

most  important  rehearsal  of  all?     Let  them  be 
happy  in  it — music,  moonlight,  love !  " 

"  Right  you  are  !  "  said  Penrhyn.  "  Come, 
everybody;  we'll  do  the  rehearsing  for  them!" 
He  took  Judith  by  the  arm.  "  You  are  the  bride," 
he  said,  and  led  her  up  to  the  rakish  Bishop. 
Turning  to  Wistar:  "  The  best  man,  I  believe,"  he 
said.  "  Mr.  Sears,  you  give  Judith  away !"  Then 
he  bade  the  musicians  play  the  wedding  march. 

The  measured  strains  rose  softly  on  the  still 
air.  Penrhyn  took  his  stand  beside  Wistar,  and 
Judith,  taking  her  father's  arm,  stepped  lightly 
toward  them,  mocking  the  conscious  demureness  of 
a  bride.  Then  she  joined  Penrhyn,  and  stood  with 
him  as  if  before  the  altar. 

Wistar  fixed  his  eyes  upon  Sears,  and  then  on 
the  bridal  pair.  ''  There  you  see  it!  "  he  said,  with 
vehemence  suppressed:  "the  end  of  your  unholy 
alliance !  She  has  a  sense  of  honor  like  a  man. 
You  can't  make  her  suffer  what  she  will  suffer  with 
that —  He  fell  silent;  but  his  fingers,  clinched 
behind  his  back,  contorted  with  agony. 

"  Don't!  "  pleaded  Sears,  his  face  haggard  and 
ashen. 

'  There  is  one  way  to  prevent  it !  " 

The  old  man  shook  his  head  and  turned  away. 

A  ghostlike  form  sped  toward  them  from  the 
arbor.  "  Stop,  stop !  "  May  cried.  "  How  horrid 
of  you!  This  is  my  wedding!  " 

342 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Peals  of  musical  laughter  fell  upon  the  spacious 
evening  air,  and  Penrhyn  shouted  for  a  waltz. 
With  the  first  measure  he  seized  Judith,  and  to- 
gether they  glided  over  the  even  turf.  As  they 
passed  Wistar  she  swung  free  and  held  out  her 
arms  to  him. 

He  caught  her,  but,  as  he  did  so,  he  stopped 
short. 

Over  the  wall  by  the  roadside  Andrews  had 
raised  his  pale  face,  spiritual  in  the  moonlight. 
Even  his  brick-red  side  whiskers  shone  with  the 
mellower  hues  of  stained  glass.  Slowly  and  un- 
steadily he  clambered  up,  until  he  stood  on  the 
wall.  With  one  arm  he  clutched  a  maple  sapling, 
and  swept  the  other  before  him  to  command  si- 
lence. 

The  little  party  stood  dumb. 

"  Ladies  V  genulums,"  he  said  in  a  voice  which, 
though  husky  with  drink,  was  all  the  more  ghost- 
like and  awful.  "  I'm  not  the  handwriting  on  the 
wTall.  I'm  a  voice  up  a  tree !  You're  all  weighted 
in  the  balances,  and  all  found  wanting." 


343 


i 


CHAPTER    XXXIX 

T  was  Penrhyn  who  first  found  words. 
"Down   out   of  that!"    he   cried,    at 
once  alarmed  and  angry.    "  Get  down, 
or  I'll  throw  you  down !  "     He  strode 
toward  the  wall  to  make  good  his  threat. 

Wistar  caught  his  wrist  in  a  grip  of  steel.  "  You 
can't  bully  him,"  he  said.  "I  know  the  man! 
You've  got  to  humor  him  or  he'll  be  violent." 
Then :  "  Come  down  out  of  that !  "  he  commanded. 
•  Andrews  turned  his  eyes  in  hazy  recognition: 
"  Old  Wistar,  is  it?  I  know  I'm  drunk;  but'  that 
don't  prevent  me  seein'  a  hole  through  you !  You 
an  honest  man  ?  You  make  me  tired !  You  a  trust- 
buster?  'Long  came  the  trust,  and  gobbled  you 
up  like  a  pop  fly  at  short  stop.  In  two  shakes, 
James  Wistar,  trust-buster,  was  the  ablest  trust- 
manager  in  these  United  States.  Then  what  hap- 
pened? You  want  to  be  the  whole  shebang !  Pen- 
rhyn won't  let  you,  so  now  you're  crying  baby. 
Going  home  to  slide  on  your  own  cellar  door, 
heigh?  Shame  on  you,  Wistar !  " 

Penrhyn,  at  first  relieved,  now  became  jubilant. 
"  Hear,  hear!  "  he  cried. 

344 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

Andrews  swept  the  company  with  a  watery  eye. 

'  Trusts  is  all  right,  genulums !     Us  laboring  men 

got  our  trusts — that's  the  unions.     Why  shouldn't 

youse  have  yourn?     Fair  play  V  no  favors,   I 

say!" 

"  You're  quite  right,"  Wistar  said,  "  but  that'll 
be  enough  from  you,  Andrews." 

"No!   No !"  cried  Penrhyn.   "More!   More!" 

Andrews  warmed  to  his  audience.  "  Wistar  is 
a  good  man,"  he  said.  "  Trouble  with  his  good- 
ness is  that  it's  the  kind  that  don't  pay.  Now 
there's  our  neighbor  on  the  other  hill  there.  Wis- 
tar ought  to  go  to  Sunday  school  to  little  Johnny 
Rockefeller.  There's  the  boy  that  understands 
the  blessings  of  the  trust !  Trust  eats  up  its  rivals  ? 
No  matter,  sezze.  'Mur'can  Beauty  rose  never 
could  'a'  been  so  big  and  beautiful  if  they  hadn't 
cut  off  the  little  buds  to  make  the  big  ones  grow 
bigger." 

At  this  citation  of  the  author  of  the  elegant 
simile  Judith's  eyes  opened,  and  she  looked  in- 
quiringly at  Penrhyn. 

"  See,  genulums!  Never  could  'a'  been  so  beau- 
tiful, and  not  half  so  damn  'Mur'can.  'Mur'can 
Beauty  rose — that's  the  trusts.  Little  buds — that's 
the  independent  makers.  Snip  'em  off !  Snip  'em 
off!" 

A  glance  from  Judith  had  taught  Penrhyn  cau- 
tion. Andrews  knew  that  Wistar  was  undeceived; 
23  345 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

but  he  could  not  know  that  there  was  another 
whom  it  was  even  more  important  to  keep  in  the 
dark. 

"  Cut  it  out !  "  Penrhyn  cried,  again  savagely 
domineering.  "  Cut  it  out,  I  say !  " 

"  You  can't  turn  him  off,"  Wistar  said.  "  The 
quickest  way  is  to  let  him  run  down.  Highly  in- 
structive, I  find  him." 

"  Wistar  ought  'a'  gone  to  Sunday  school. 
Then  he  would  'a'  learned  that  the  man  who  tries 
to  do  good  to  hisself  without  doin'  the  trade  as  a 
whole — "  Andrews  broke  off  in  fuddled  perplex- 
ity. "  I  mean,  doin'  the  trade  as  a  whole — 
good!  .  .  .  What  was  I  sayin',  genulums?  You 
know  what  I  mean,  Penrhyn.  You're  the  man  to 
do  the  trade,  and  do  it  good !  " 

This  time  Penrhyn  strode  past  Wistar  and 
reached  the  wall. 

Andrews  clasped  the  tree  in  both  arms.  "  What 
you  got  to  say  about  it,  Penrhyn?  You're  a  slick 
one !  Wanted  to  get  Wistar  into  the  trust.  How 
did  you  go  to  work?  " 

Penrhyn  caught  hold  of  him,  but  was  not  able 
to  budge  him  from  the  tree. 

Andrews  burst  into  injured  tears.  "  You  bribed 
a  poor  weak  workingman  to  crack  Wistar's  safe 
and  steal  his  papers!  Was  that  right  to  me,  I 
ask?  Make  me  rob  him  as  was  allus  my  friend!  " 

Penrhyn  stood  back  as  if  struck  by  a  blow.  For 
346 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

a  moment  there  was  silence — a  silence  so  deep  that 
the  chirping  of  crickets  was  heard. 

"  Is  this  true?  "  Judith  said,  looking  from  Pen- 
rhyn  to  her  father,  and  then  to  Wistar.  The  only 
answer  was  from  the  crickets,  querulous  and  ac- 
cusing. 

Seeing  the  consternation  he  had  caused,  An- 
drews came  to  Penrhyn's  defense. 

"  But  /  don't  blame  him !  It's  all  been  for  the 
good  of  the  industry.  When  hist'ry  of  aut'mobile 
is  written,  it'll  be  un'versally  'knowl'g't  Stanley 
Penrhyn  an'  Livingston  Sears  put  the  world 
on  wheels!"  His  ideas  scattered;  but  after  a 
moment's  blankness  he  went  on  in  an  explanatory 
vein:  "The  old  one  has  the  ideas,  and  looks  so 
tony  they  think  him  good  as  pie,  and  he  smiles  in 
his  sleeve  while  the  young  un  does  the  crooked 
business." 

Wistar's  voice  rose  with  the  tones  of  authority: 
"Andrews!  "  he  thundered.  "  Come  down!  " 

The  man  limply  obeyed.  "  I'm  comin' !  "  he 
said.  "  I  don't  want  to  be  no  skeleton  at  no  feast! 
Here  they  are,  marryin'  an'  givin'  in  marriage !  " 
His  eyes  fell  on  the  effigy  of  the  Bishop,  and  he 
focused  them  with  a  quizzical  leer,  half  abashed 
in  fear,  half  humorous  in  comprehension,  as  a  wise 
old  crow  might  regard  a  straw  man.  He  took  an 
empty  sleeve  in  his  hand.  "  But  it's  a  bad  job, 
your  riverence.  If  you'll  pardon  a  plain  man, 

347 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

she's  too  good  for  Penrhyn,  she  is.  It  should  V 
been  the  other  one !  "  He  shook  his  head  sol- 
emnly. "  Them  two  have  been  friends — real 
friends  o'  mine !  "  By  this  time  Wistar  had  him 
by  the  wrist.  Andrews  laid  his  head  on  his  shoul- 
der and  sobbed  with  emotion  uncontrollable. 
"  Only  two  friends  I  have  in  this  world  are  Miss 
Wears  an'  Mr.  Sister !  " 

"  Come !  "  said  Wistar,  "  I'll  take  you  to  the 
train." 

"  Leave  me  go  home  alone !  "  Andrews  pro- 
tested. "  I'm  used  to  being  drunk — take  care  o' 
myself  better  drunk  'n'  sober.  When  I'm  sober, 
I  allus  go  an'  get  drunk."  He  freed  himself,  and, 
commanding  the  idiosyncrasies  of  his  legs,  walked 
erect  and  firm  toward  the  gate.  Halfway  down 
'the  steps  he  turned.  "  Good-by,  Penrhyn,"  he 
said.  '  You  went  to  Sunday  school !  " 

Wistar,  leaning  over  the  wall,  saw  him  walk 
down  the  road,  still  straight  and  firm. 

The  thing  which,  from  all  motives,  Wistar  had 
so  long  and  so  passionately  desired  to  have  Judith 
know  was  now  an  open  secret.  Judith's  loyalty  to 
Penrhyn,  if  she  remained  loyal,  would  not  be 
blind. 

A  sudden  blight  had  fallen  on  the  company,  in 
which  above  everything  Wistar  felt  an  old  man's 
disgrace  before  his  children,  a  young  woman's  dis- 
illusionment in  those  she  loved. 

348 


I 


CHAPTER   XL 

T  was  Wistar  who  broke  the  spell  that 
had  fallen  on  the  company.      "  I  be- 
lieve we  owe  you  a  rehearsal,"  he  said 
to  May  and  Billy.   "  Shall  we  begin?" 
"  No,  no !  "  Sears  cried.     "  Not  now !  " 
Wistar  dismissed  the  musicians,  mystified  spec- 
tators of  the  scene,  bidding  them  keep  an  eye  on 
Andrews.     Boyser  came  out  from  the  house  with 
the  cup  she  had  been  mixing,  poured  out  a  glass, 
and  offered  it  to  each  of  the  party  in  turn.     One 
after  another  they  refused  it  in  silence. 

"  Is  this  the  truth?  "  Judith  asked  Penrhyn. 
"  Yes,"  he  said  sullenly.  Then  he  turned  to 
Boyser.  "  Kindly  pack  my  bag.  I'll  send  for  it 
from  the  club."  He  started  toward  the  gate.  As 
he  passed  Wistar  his  sullen  humor  lighted  with 
a  flash  of  anger.  "  You've  got  me  down  here," 
he  said.  "  But  I'm  not  out — not  by  a  long  shot. 
There's  many  a  turn  in  Wall  Street !  " 

"  It  is,   I  am  aware,  a  very  crooked  street  I  " 
Wistar  turned  away. 

Penrhyn  raised  his  chin  defiantly.     But  as  he 
did  so  his  glance  met  Judith's,  and  his  eyes  fell. 

349 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

She  gave  him  her  hand.  "  I'm  not  angry,"  she 
said.  "  I  don't  know  why,  but  I  am  not.  I'm 
very,  very  sorry  for  you.  What  you  have  threat- 
ened— you  won't  do  it !  You  will  keep  your  prom- 
ise to  him — our  promise  !  " 

As  Penrhyn  gazed  at  her,  and  heard  the  clear, 
kind  cadence  of  her  voice,  a  look  came  into  his  face 
which  Wistar  had  never  seen  there  before,  and  in 
which,  in  a  flash,  he  read  the  secret  of  Judith's 
regard  for  the  man.  "  If  I  promised  to  keep  my 
word,"  Penrhyn  said,  and  there  was  a  real  con- 
trition in  his  voice,  "  I  should  not  be  believed,  nor 
deserve  to  be.  But  I  will  keep  your  promise."  He 
turned  again  to  Wistar.  "  I  don't  ask  you  to  be- 
lieve even  that.  I  may  point  out,  however,  that  I 
have  the  same  reason  as  always  to  want  to  hold 
you  together  with  the  rest  of  us.  Once  I  thought 
I  was  clever  enough  to  get  the  best  of  you — clever 
enough,  and  strong  enough,  and  mean  enough. 
I've  done  things  I  never  dreamed  I  could ;  but  I've 
reached  the  limit  of  my  dirty  work,  and  I  guess 
I've  reached  the  limit  of  my  power.  If  you  still 
wish  to  honor  me  as  an  associate  I  shall  stand  with 
you  and  by  you !  " 

Without  waiting  for  an  answer  he  left  them. 

Judith  turned  an  accusing  glance  upon  Sears. 

"Father!"  she  said,  "you  have  lied  to 
me!" 

When  Sears  had  heard  the  words  in  which  his 
350 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

young  associate  renounced  him  he  had  hung  his 
head.  Now  he  lifted  a  face  that  was,  in  fact,  too 
painful  to  be  seen. 

"  It  was  for  you,  dearie ! — to  save  you  from 
want !  I  couldn't  believe  you  cared  for  him !  " 

"For  mel    To  lie\" 

"  Your  pardon,"  said  Wistar.  "  Good  night !  " 
It  was  clearly  not  a  scene  for  anyone  to  witness. 
And  Judith's  manner  toward  Sears,  so  strangely  in 
contrast  with  her  leniency  to  Penrhyn,  made  him 
sick  at  heart.  "  No,  no !"  Judith  cried.  "Wait!" 
She  turned  to  Sears.  "  What  Mr.  Wistar  has 
done  has  been  just  and  right  from  the  start !  Own 
up,  Daddy,  dear.  It  has  !  " 

A  hunted  look  came  into  the  gentle,  aging 
eyes. 

"  What  must  he  think  of  us !  What  must  we 
think  of  ourselves !  " 

The  old  man's  hands  shook,  and  he  sank  upon 
the  bench,  abashed,  crushed.  "  I  know !  You 
loathe  me !  And  I  loathe  myself !  I  wronged  him. 
I  ask  his  pardon.  One  more  dream  and  it  is  all 
over.  But  before,  at  the  awakening,  I  still  had 
my  honor — and  your  love." 

Tears  came  into  Judith's  eyes  and  into  her  voice. 
"  Oh,  Daddy!  How  you  must  have  suffered!  I 
do  love  you — shall  always  love  you !  How  I  love 
you!" 

May,  who  had  stood  amazed  but  uncomprehen- 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

sive  by  Onderdonk's  side,  now  knelt  and  caught 
the  old  man  in  her  arms. 

He  struggled  to  his  feet,  leaned  over  and  kissed 
her.  "Good  night,  child!  Billy  is  the  best  fel- 
low in  the  world.  You  will  be  happy." 

He  said  no  more,  and  presently  Onderdonk  led 
May  away. 

"  Good  night,  Judith.  Believe  me,  sweetheart, 
you  will  learn  to  thank  God  you  know  what 
Penrhyn  is,  though  it  breaks  your  heart.  That 
'is  my  greatest  sin,  that  I  ever  let  you  care  for 
him !  "  He  spoke  like  one  on  the  verge  of  the 
grave. 

"  We  shall  still  be  happy !  "  Judith  pleaded. 
"  For  you  as  well  as  for  me,  everything  is  so  much 
better  as  it  is !  " 

"  I  am  an  old  man.     Kiss  me  good  night." 

Impulsively  she  threw  her  arms  about  him. 

He  smiled  a  faint,  wan  smile.  "The  eyes!" 
he  said. 

Joy  lighted  her  face.  "Bless  you,  dearest! 
Now  I  know  I  can  make  you  happy !  "  She  kissed 
him  on  the  drooping  lids. 

'  Your  mother — she  is  with  us  now !     Yes,  I 
shall  be  happy!  " 

In  sudden  alarm  she  stood  back  from  him. 
"  Father!  What  are  you  thinking  of?  " 

With  an  instinctive  movement  he  thrust  his 
hand  into  the  pocket  of  his  dinner  jacket.  But 

352 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

her  hand  was  as  quick.     She  gripped  his  wrist  and 
held  it  firm. 

Wistar  clutched  the  revolver  and  wrenched  it 
away. 

The  old  man  winced  with  pain.  '  You  hurt  my 
shoulder !  "  he  complained. 

"  Your  shoulder  I  "  Judith  cried.  "  Again, 
Daddy,  again  I  " 

He  turned  upon  Wistar.  "  You  have  taken 
everything  else,"  he  said.  "Give  me  that!  My 
life  is  still  my  own !  " 

"  Father!  "  said  Judith  tenderly. 

"  If  a  poor  cur  on  the  street  were  sick,  sick  to 
death,  you  would  kill  him — kill  him  in  mercy  1 
Yet  your  father  you  condemn  to  live — to  live  in 
poverty,  defeat,  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  those  he 
loves!" 

"  Father !  "  she  repeated,  her  voice  melting 
with  love. 

"  You  are  right,  dear,"  he  said.  "  I  must  be 
brave.  I  will  be  brave !  "  Then  he  turned  from 
them  and  went  indoors. 

Judith  started  after,  but  Wistar  caught  and 
held  her.  "  Believe  me!  "  he  said.  "  It  is  not  as 
it  seems !  It  was  my  fault !  If  I  had  known  what 
I  know  now,  it  never  would  have  happened.  I 
want  you  to  tell  him  so,  from  me — tell  him  that 
I  see  my  fault,  and  stand  ready  to  join  him — under 
the  terms  Penrhyn  has  offered." 

353 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  You  can  do  this — without  violating  your  sense 
of  what  is  right?  May  I  tell  him  that?  Do  be 
quick !  My  place  is  there,  with  him  !  " 

"  Once  when  I  promised  this  it  was  against  my 
conscience.  In  the  old  days  I  was  the  cave  man, 
blind  to  the  new  ideas.  Your  father  understood 
them.  Little  by  little  I  have  learned  from  expe- 
rience what  no  argument  could  convince  me  of — 
his  largeness  and  his  wisdom.  What  we  have  ac- 
complished, his  genius  foresaw  it  all !  He  may 
be  weak — Penrhyn  was  masterful  and  played  on 
every  foible.  But  in  his  mind  and  his  heart  he 
is  right!  " 

Already  she  had  left  him.  With  a  single  flash 
his  darkest  hour  had  turned  to  the  most  glorious 
dawn.  The  suddenness  and  the  vastness  of  the 
prospect  before  him  dazed  him,  even  while  it  filled 
him  with  confidence  and  joy. 

Then,  from  within  the  house,  a  loud  cry  fell 
upon  his  ears,  a  wail  of  anguish  and  horror  that 
stabbed  him  like  a  knife  in  his  heart.  When  it 
was  repeated  he  had  gained  the  door  and  was 
mounting  the  stairs  within.  In  another  second  a 
sight  burst  upon  him  which  he  was  destined  never 
to  forget.  Judith  lay  prostrate  and  convulsed  upon 
the  form  of  her  father,  still  writhing  in  a  pool  of 
blood.  Through  the  window  the  full  moon  shone, 
and  upon  her  hair,  faintly  golden,  was  a  crimson 
blot. 

354 


w 


CHAPTER   XLI 

ISTAR  gathered  her  in  his  arms  and, 
heedless  of  tears  and  protestations, 
carried  her  downstairs  and  into  the 
open  air.  When  he  released  her  she 
looked  at  him  once,  then  shrank  away  in  horror 
and  loathing.  The  handkerchief  with  which  he 
had  cleansed  her  hair  was  still  crumpled  in  his 
hand. 

"  Let  me  go  back  to  him !  "  she  commanded 
harshly.  "  Never  let  me  see  you  again!  " 

He  recoiled,  yet  still  blocked  the  way.  Out  of 
the  shadows  May  hurried  toward  them,  and  On- 
derdonk  with  her. 

"  Father — is  it  father?  "  she  cried. 
A  new  horror  fell  upon  Judith. 
Wistar  bowed  his  head. 

"  He  is  dead?  "  The  young  girl  scanned  each 
face  in  turn. 

Judith  was  mute,  and  Wistar  still  bowed  his 
head. 

"  Did  you  say  dead?  Oh,  Billy!  "  But  even 
as  she  cried  out,  her  voice  was  of  one  who  did 
not  understand.  "Dead?"  she  asked  blankly. 

355 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  My  daddy?  "    Then  she  sprang  toward  the  ver- 
anda. 

It  was  Judith  who  caught  her.  "  No,  no !  Not 
yet!  It  is  too  terrible !" 

For  a  moment  the  sisters  stood  sobbing  in  each 
other's  arms.  Then  May  freed  herself,  and  with 
incoherent  cries,  turned  from  Judith  and  sank 
upon  Onderdonk's  shoulder.  The  young  man 
held  her  a  moment,  and  presently  led  her  away, 
dazed  and  unresisting. 

Judith  stood  alone.  Again  she  tried  to  pass 
Wistar,  yet  shrank  from  him  as  she  did  so.  Again 
he  barred  the  way.  "  I  can  only  protect  you,"  he 
said,  "  as  you  protected  her." 

"I  must  go!  I  can't  stay  alone — alone!" 
Then  again  she  looked  at  him,  shuddering. 
"  Leave  me  with  him !  "  she  sobbed.  "  Let  me 
never  see  you  again !  " 

He  desired  nothing  more  than  to  go;  but  he 
stood  to  his  post,  and  Mrs.  Boyser  abetted  him, 
bringing  rugs  and  cushions  and  wraps.  She  spread 
them  on  the  grass,  and  forced  Judith  to  lie  down 
on  them.  Then  she  disappeared,  and  Wistar  heard 
her  at  the  telephone,  summoning  the  needful  aid. 

Judith  turned  her  face  from  him  and  lay  on  the 
ground,  outbursts  of  grief  followed  by  still  more 
agonized  moments  of  grief,  silent  and  restrained. 
And  so  a  night  began,  the  horror  of  which  left  a 
lifelong  mark  on  all  of  them. 

356 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

A  breeze  came,  and  with  it  coolness  and  the 
freshness  of  the  sea.  The  moon  floated  above 
with  a  serene,  unsentient  beauty  that  fell  upon 
Wistar's  heart  like  a  blight.  By  and  by,  some- 
thing bade  him  look  at  the  window  above.  All 
his  efforts  to  resist  it  failed,  and  he  raised  his  eyes. 
The  shade  had  been  decently  drawn;  yet  nothing 
would  banish  from  his  mind  the  vision  of  what 
was  there,  or  stay  the  recurrent  waves  of  horror 
it  brought  him.  With  Judith  the  silences  became 
longer,  but  always  there  followed  the  convulsion 
of  grief  that  would  not  be  repressed,  yet  could  find 
no  utterance. 

By  and  by  the  man  of  the  law  came,  made  his 
survey,  asked  his  questions.  While  he  spoke  his 
few  words  to  Judith,  Wistar  went  into  the  house, 
and  stood  where  he  could  still  guard  the  door,  un- 
seeing and  unseen.  Toward  midnight  came  an- 
other man,  clothed  in  black,  and  with  a  black 
hand  bag  containing  the  tools  of  his  trade — the 
trade  which  men  do  not  name  except  in  grisly  jest. 
Wistar  met  him  at  the  gate,  and  all  the  way  to 
the  house  walked  between  him  and  where  Judith 
lay,  his  finger  to  his  lips.  She  made  neither  sound 
nor  motion.  By  and  by — hours  later,  it  seemed — 
the  man  came  forth  again,  and  Wistar  went  with 
him  as  before.  In  all  the  interval  Judith  had 
made  no  sound.  But  when  the  man  was  gone  she 
sobbed  aloud,  her  face  to  the  ground.  And  Wis- 

357 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

tar  knew  that,  as  she  had  lain  there,  tense  and  si- 
lent, she  had  seen  it  all  with  the  eyes  of  the  mind. 

Then  came  the  bitterest  hours  of  his  vigil,  in 
which  little  by  little,  in  the  intervals  of  grief  and 
horror,  his  heart  spoke  to  him,  at  first  in  vague 
intimations,  formless  and  uncomprehended,  and 
then  in  self-accusation,  definite  and  overpowering. 
When  he  had  said  to  Judith,  such  a  little  while 
ago  as  time  is  measured,  that  he  also  had  been  to 
blame,  he  had  only  indulged  in  the  luxury  of  mag- 
nanimous self-accusation.  He  did  not,  even  now, 
convict  himself  of  any  conscious  wrong.  But 
there  are  sins  of  the  mind  as  there  are  sins  of  the 
heart,  and  the  evil  they  do  is  as  deep,  and  often 
more  lasting. 

He  had  been  ignorant  of  the  world  about  him, 
of  the  world  of  which  he  was  a  part;  and,  when 
he  had  been  forced  to  recognize  that  world,  he 
had  still  disdained  it.  At  the  outset,  the  situation 
had  lain  in  his  hands.  But  he  had  turned  his  back 
on  those  whose  outlook  was  wider  than  his  own, 
and  so  the  opportunity,  which  he  might  have  used 
to  such  high  account,  had  been  diverted  by  a  more 
skillful  hand  to  evil  ends.  And  so  it  had  come 
to  this — a  wise  and  amiable  father  in  the  room 
above,  and  a  daughter  here,  shielded  from  the  too 
passionate  promptings  of  filial  love  by  the  hand 
red  with  destruction.  A  few  hours,  and  Judith 
must  never  see  him  again. 

358 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

And  all  the  time — beneath,  beyond,  within  his 
pity  for  her  and  his  own  remorse — was  something 
vague  and  uncomprehended,  yet  insistent  and  over- 
powering. It  brushed  upon  his  cheek,  tingled 
ecstatically  in  his  fingers,  fluttered  caressingly 
about  the  tips  of  his  ears.  It  was  in  the  first  gray 
light  of  dawn  that  he  knew  it  for  what  it  was. 
She  had  held  her  hands  in  his  with  light-hearted 
endearment;  she  had  put  her  cheek  against  his  own 
in  mockery;  she  had  flouted  him  with  a  soft  little 
tug  on  his  ear.  She  was  a  girl  who  could  be 
comrades  with  a  man,  and  she  had  taken  him  to 
her  frank,  brave  heart.  Never,  never  could  he 
forget  that.  And  always  as  he  remembered  it,  he 
must  remember  also  this  ultimate  hour. 

He  rose  to  his  feet  in  anguish,  and  gazed  upon 
her  face,  turned  away  from  him.  She  had  fallen 
asleep  at  last,  he  saw,  every  sense  extinguished  by 
the  excess  of  what  she  had  endured.  In  any  young 
face  the  outline  of  cheek  and  chin  is  a  line  of 
beauty,  though  often  void  of  expression.  In  hers 
it  had  all  the  softness,  all  the  sweet  opulence  of 
full-blooded  health,  and  besides  the  little,  individ- 
ual crinkle  of  her  eye,  at  once  grave  and  caressing, 
the  wreathing  of  her  mouth  that  was  mocking  and 
also  tender. 

For,  as  the  daylight  strengthened,  he  saw  that 
in  her  sleep  she  was  smiling.  He  would  not  have 
supposed  that  there  was  anything  left  for  him  to 

359 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

suffer;  but  that  smile,  joyous,  serene,  beatific,  and 
the  thought  of  what  she  must  wake  to,  had  a  pang 
more  poignant  still.  His  knees  bent  beneath  him, 
and  he  fell  to  the  ground  beside  her,  his  chest 
heaving  uncontrollably,  hot  tears  streaming  from 
his  eyes. 

With  a  little  start  she  awoke.  The  smile  van- 
ished, and  she  turned  a  questioning  glance  upon 
him. 

"Is  it  true?"  she  asked,  in  a  sudden  fear. 
'  Just  now  I  dreamed — that  it  had  all  been  only 
a  dream !  "  For  a  moment  more  she  looked  at 
him,  questioning,  unconvinced.  Then  all  the  in- 
timate, varied  lines  of  her  face  contracted  to  one 
note  of  woe.  Again  she  cried  out  as  she  had  cried 
'in  the  first  awful  moment  of  her  discovery. 

In  obedience  to  an  impulse  that  was  stronger 
than  reverence  for  her,  stronger  than  remorse,  he 
took  her  in  his  arms. 

"  You  poor  child !  "  was  all  he  could  say,  and 
he  said  it  again  and  again. 

In  a  passion  of  grief  and  tenderness  she  threw 
her  arms  about  him,  and  strained  him  to  her 
breast. 

'  Jim,   Jim !  "   she  sobbed,    repeating  her  new 
name  for  him  over  and  over. 

She  buried  her  face  in  his  and  sobbed  afresh. 
And  now,  for  the  first  time,  the  utterance  of  her 
grief  was  full  and  brought  relief. 

360 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

For  a  moment  he  endured  it.  Then,  gently,  he 
put  her  from  him.  In  another  instant  she  must  re- 
member even  him.  It  would  have  been  braver, 
perhaps,  to  grant  her  this  moment  of  solace  to  the 
full.  But  he  did  not  deem  it  so;  and,  crushed  as 
he  was,  there  was  one  depth  of  injury  of  which 
he  did  not  wish  her  to  believe  him  capable. 

Yet  still  she  clung  to  his  hands.  "  What  is  it?  " 
she  said,  by  and  by,  reading  pain  in  his  eyes. 

"  You  forget — what  I  am.  I  wouldn't  have 
stayed  by  you — I  couldn't — except  that  you 
needed  me !  " 

She  remembered  now,  and  the  horror  of  it  came 
back  into  her  eyes.  But  the  measure  she  took  to 
banish  the  sight  of  him  was  to  bury  her  face 
again  on  his  shoulder  and  with  a  more  convul- 
sive tenderness.  "  You  tried — tried  in  all  ways 
to  save  him !  Let  me  love  you !  You  are  all 
I  have !  " 

Again  her  grief  returned  upon  her,  and  she 
shook  violently  beneath  it.  But  even  as  she  did 
so  she  held  him  closer  in  her  arms. 

By  and  by  she  was  calmer,  and  in  a  brief  in- 
terval of  silence  they  heard  the  birds  singing.  The 
chirrups  of  daylight  in  the  woodland,  even  the 
sweet  and  penetrating  cadence  of  evensong,  are 
only  a  tiny  rivulet  to  the  floods  of  melody  in  which 
robin  and  thrush  in  concert,  lark,  field  sparrow 
and  wren,  greet  the  day  reborn.  The  liquid  notes 
24  361 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

soothed  and  caressed  them;  and,  little  by  little, 
brought  the  strength  of  life  and  its  courage. 

She  released  him,  her  face  brave  and  composed. 
"  I  am  ready  now,"  she  said. 

He  understood  and,  rising,  lifted  her  to  her 
feet.  Supporting  each  other,  they  went  indoors. 
The  thing  that  had  haunted  them  both  all  through 
the  night  lay  in  the  bed,  still  and  pale.  But  the 
expression  of  the  face  was  composed,  resigned. 

She  laid  the  weight  of  her  arm  upon  his  shoul- 
der, and  he  knelt  with  her,  hand  in  hand,  while  she 
uttered  a  brief  prayer,  so  framed  as  to  include 
them  both  in  one,  a  prayer  to  God  and  to  her 
father.  Then  she  arose  and,  for  the  first  time,  she 
kissed  him. 

And  then,  for  the  first  time,  he  kissed  her. 

"  We  can  bear  it  now,"  she  said — "  we  two,  to- 
gether." 


362 


w 


CHAPTER    XLII 

ISTAR'S  return  to  affairs  was  made 
easier  by  the  feeling  that  he  had  a 
duty  of  piety  toward  the  thing  which 
Mr.  Sears  had  held  so  dear.  In 
the  eyes  of  the  business  world,  he  found,  it  had 
needed  only  the  news  of  the  old  man's  despair  to 
change  an  uneasy  conjecture  into  certainty.  It  was 
soon  the  general  belief  that  the  successful  career 
of  the  combination  had  come  to  an  end.  In  a  sud- 
den panic,  the  stock  tumbled. 

Wistar  came  to  the  rescue  with  as  full  a  state- 
ment of  the  case  as  the  circumstance  permitted, 
and  backed  up  his  hopeful  augury  by  buying 
largely  of  the  floods  of  stock  that  poured  upon  the 
market.  But  the  memory  of  his  recent  operation 
was  too  fresh  to  allow  his  word,  or  even  what  he 
did,  to  pass  at  its  face  value.  It  took  time  and  per- 
sistent and  enormous  buying  to  check  the  panic. 

His  former  sales  of  the  stock  on  a  rising  market 
had,  grotesquely  enough,  left  him  many  millions 
the  richer,  and,  at  the  present  low  quotations,  his 
holdings  swelled  until  it  was  now  clearly  possible 
for  him  to  buy  a  majority,  or  at  least  enough  to 

363 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

make  him  master  of  the  situation.  He  was  him- 
self scarcely  aware  of  what  this  implied  when  the 
public  awoke  to  it. 

One  day  the  reporters  came  to  him  and  plied 
him  with  questions  as  to  the  events  leading  up  to 
Mr.  Sears's  death.  He  paused  a  moment  before 
answering,  as  his  custom  was,  and  then  another 
moment,  and  another.  Presently  he  realized  in 
horror  that  there  was  nothing  he  could  say:  he 
saw  what  he  had  done  as  the  world  was  beginning 
to  see  it.  He  had  wrecked  the  company,  and  out 
of  the  wreckage  he  had  built  it  up  again,  with  him- 
self in  supreme  control  and  possessed  of  the  mil- 
lions of  his  enemies  and  of  the  speculative  public. 

He  took  the  discovery  to  Judith,  fearful  of 
what  she  might  think  of  him.  She  said  nothing, 
but  burst  into  laughter — the  first  since  she  had 
worn  black. 

In  the  early  months  of  their  married  life  it  was 
a  never-failing  source  of  delight  to  her  to  call  him 
a  company-wrecker,  and  she  learned  to  make  the 
word  a  climax  to  a  series  of  horrid  epithets;  So 
she  continued  to  mock  and  distress  him  till  their 
son  was  born. 

Then,  when  she  had  found  the  name  for  his 
latest  unpremeditated  achievement,  "  Is  it  true," 
he  pleaded,  "  that  the  father  of  James  Wistar, 
Jr.,  is  a  speculator,  a  market-rigger,  a  company- 
wrecker?  " 

364 


THE     CAVE     MAN 

"  No,  Jim,"  she  said,  and  only  those  who  have 
the  love  of  useful  invective  can  value  her  sacrifice, 
"  you  are  only  a  poor,  but  honest,  cave  man." 

"  You  can't  make  me  mad  with  that  name,"  he 
retorted,  "  when  you  are  the  cave  maiden." 

She  looked  a  while  into  the  round,  staring  eyes 
of  James  Wistar,  Jr.  Then,  with  an  inscrutable, 
happy  smile,  she  said:  "Am  I?" 


(i) 


THE    END 


365 


THE  LEADING  NOVEL  OF  TODAY. 


The  Fighting  Chance. 

By  ROBERT  W.  CHAMBERS.  Illustrated  by  A.  B, 
Wenzell.  I2mo.  Ornamental  Cloth,  $1.50. 

In  "  The  Fighting  Chance  "  Mr.  Chambers  has  taken 
for  his  hero,  a  young  fellow  who  has  inherited  with  his 
wealth  a  craving  for  liquor.  The  heroine  has  inherited  a 
certain  rebelliousness  and  dangerous  caprice.  The  two, 
meeting  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  fight  out  their  battles,  two 
weaknesses  joined  with  love  to  make  a  strength.  It  is  re- 
freshing to  find  a  story  about  the  rich  in  which  all  the 
women  are  not  sawdust  at  heart,  nor  all  the  men  satyrs. 
The  rich  have  their  longings,  their  ideals,  their  regrets, 
as  well  as  the  poor;  they  have  their  struggles  and  inherited 
evils  to  combat.  It  is  a  big  subject,  painted  with  a  big 
brush  and  a  big  heart. 

"  After  '  The  House  of  Mirth '  a  New  York  society  novel 
has  to  be  very  good  not  to  suffer  fearfully  by  comparison. 
'  The  Fighting  Chance '  is  very  good  and  it  does  not 
suffer." — Cleveland  Plain  Dealer. 

"There  is  no  more  adorable  person  in  recent  fiction 
than  Sylvia  Landis." — New  York  Evening  Sun. 

"  Drawn  with  a  master  hand." — Toledo  Blade. 

"An  absorbing  tale  which  claims  the  reader's  interest 
to  the  end." — Detroit  Free  Press. 

"  Mr.  Chambers  has  written  many  brilliant  stories,  but 
this  is  his  masterpiece." — Pittsburg  Chronicle  Telegraph. 

D.    APPLETON     AND    COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


A  MASTERPIECE  OF  FICTION. 

The  Guarded  Flame. 

By  W.   B.  MAXWELL,  Author  of  "Vivien." 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

'  The  Guarded  Flame,  by  W.  B.  Maxwell,  is  a  booic 
to  challenge  the  attention  of  the  reading  public  as  a  re- 
markable study  of  moral  law  and  its  infraction.  Mr.  Max- 
well is  the  son  of  Miss  M.  E.  Braddon  (Mrs.  John  Maxwell), 
whose  novels  were  famous  a  generation  ago,  and  his  first 
book  '  Vivien '  made  the  English  critics  herald  him  as  a 
new  force  in  the  world  of  letters.  '  The  Guarded  Flame ' 
is  an  even  more  astonishing  production,  a  big  book  that 
takes  rank  with  the  most  important  fiction  of  the  year. 
It  is  not  a  book  for  those  who  read  to  be  amused  or  to  be 
entertained.  It  touches  the  deepest  issues  of  life  and  death." 

— Albany  Argus. 

"The  most  powerfully  written  book  of  the  year." 

—  The  Independent. 

'  The  Guarded  Flame '  is  receiving  high  praise  from 
the  critics  everywhere." — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"This  is  a  book  which  cannot  fail  to  make  its  mark." 

— Detroit  News. 

"Great  novels  are  few  and  the  appearance  of  one  at 
any  period  must  give  the  early  reviewer  a  thrill  of  discovery. 
Such  a  one  has  come  unheralded  ;  but  from  a  source  whence 
it  might  have  been  confidently  expected.  The  author  is 
W.  B.  Maxwell,  son  of  the  voluminous  novelist  known  to 
the  world  as  Miss  Braddon.  His  novel  is  entitled  'The 
Guarded  Flame.'  "—Philadelphia  Press. 

"  The  books  of  W.  B.  Maxwell  are  essentially  for  think- 
ers."— St.  Louis  Post- Dispatch. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK. 


BY  LLOYD  OSBOURNE. 


Three  Speeds  Forward. 

Uniquely  illustrated  with  full-page  illustrations, 
head  and  tail  pieces  and  many  sketches  by  Karl 
Anderson  and  H.  D.  Williams.  Ornamental  Cloth, 
$1.00. 

"  'Three  Speeds  Forward'  is  an  amusing  automobile  story  by  Lloyd 
Osbourne,  in  which  the  ostensible  teller  of  what  happened  is  the  girl 
heroine.  A  little  runabout  is  the  important  factor  in  the  love  romance. 
The  book  is  prettily  bound  and  printed  and  is  illustrated." —  Toledo  Blade. 

"  '  Three  Speeds  Forward,'  by  Lloyd  Osbourne,  is  a  very  brief  and 
most  agreeable  novelette  dealing  with  modern  society  and  the  chug- 
chug  wagon." — Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

"  The  climax  of  this  story  is  original  and  most  humorous.  The 
action  is  rapid  and  consistent  with  the  subject  in  hand.  Altogether  it  is 
a  most  enjoyable  little  volume,  well  illustrated  and  attractively  bound." 

— Milwaukee  Sentinel. 

"  It  is  a  bright  and  sprightly  little  story,  very  strongly  flavored  with 
gasoline,  but  quite  readable.  It  is  attractively  and  characteristically 
illustrated." — New  York  Times. 

Wild  Justice. 

Illustrated.     Ornamental  Cloth,  $1.50. 

"  Lloyd  Osbourne's  stories  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  are  second  only 
to  Stevenson's  on  the  same  theme.  '  Wild  Justice '  is  a  volume  of  these 
short  stories,  beginning  with  that  strong  and  haunting  tale,  '  The  Rene- 
gade.' These  are  stories  which  will  bear  reading  more  than  once. 
They  have  an  atmosphere  that  it  is  restful  to  breathe,  once  in  a  while, 
to  the  dwellers  in  cities  and  the  toilers  of  these  Northern  lands  where 
life  is  such  a  stern  affair." — Denver  Post. 

"  Mr.  Lloyd  Osbourne's  nine  stories  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  ('  Wild 
Justice ')  are  told  with  a  Kiplingesque  vigor,  and  well  illustrate  their 
title.  All  are  eminently  readable — not  overweighted  with  tragedy,  as 
is  the  wont  of  tales  that  deal  with  the  remote  regions  of  the  earth." 

— New  York  Times. 

"  Mr.  Osbourne  in  '  Wild  Justice '  has  given  us  a  series  of  stories 
about  the  Samoan  Islands  and  their  islanders  and  their  white  invaders, 
visitors  and  conquerors  which  are  vivid  with  humor  and  pathos." 

— New  York  Herald. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


TWO  CHARMING  STORIES. 


The  Little  King  of  Angel's  Landing. 

By  ELMORE  ELLIOTT  PEAKE.  Illustrated. 
Cloth,  $1.25. 

This  is  a  story  of  a  plucky  little  cripple  of  indomitable 
energy  and  perseverance.  How,  boy-like,  he  forms  an  ideal 
love  for  his  school  teacher  and  wins  a  great  voting  contest 
for  her ;  how  he  patiently  saves  his  pennies  to  get  himself 
"fixed";  how  his  faithful  dog  is  killed  and  the  shock  it 
brings  to  the  frail  little  soul ;  how  he  struggles  onward, 
upward,  and  at  last  comes  into  his  birthright — all  these  are 
incidents  of  a  story  the  kindly  humor  and  infinite  pathos 
of  which  are  deeply  appealing. 

"  There  are  tears  and  smiles  in  every  chapter  of  '  The  Little  King 

of  Angel's  Landing.'  " — Denver  Post. 

"  There  is  a  mighty  human  interest — a  something  that  takes  hold 
of  your  heart  and  sometimes  hurts  it  a  bit,  but  which  presently  makes 
you  correspondingly  glad — in  '  The  Little  King  of  Angel's  Landing.'  " 

— Cincinnati  Times-Star, 

The  House  of  Hawley. 

By  ELMORE  ELLIOTT  PEAKE.  Ornamental 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

" '  The  House  of  Hawley,'  by  Elmore  Elliott  Peake,  is  one  of  the 
1  homiest '  stories  we  have  met  in  a  long  while.  .  .  .  Instead  of  calling 
so  often  for  the  great  American  novel,  perhaps  we  should  give  more 
attention  to  the  many  good  American  novels,  of  which  '  The  House 
of  Hawley '  is  one,  containing  faithful  and  interesting  portrayal  of  life 
in  some  one  of  the  many  and  diversified  sections  of  the  country." 

— New  York  Globe. 

11  There  is  not  a  dull  page  in  the  whole  book.  It  is  well  worth 
reading." — St.  Louis  Star. 

" '  The  House  of  Hawley '  is  a  fresh,  readable  story  by  Elmore 
Elliott  Peake,  the  theme  of  which  is  laid  in  the  '  Egypt '  of  southern 
Illinois.  The  title  fits  better  than  usual,  and  the  characters  depicted 
are  real  people.  There  is  not  a  single  stick  of  dead  timber  among  the 
various  men  and  women."— rChicago  Record-Herald. 

D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK 


A  ROMANCE  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

The  Victory. 

By  MOLLY  ELLIOTT  SEA  WELL,  author  of  "  The 
Chateau  of  Montplaisir,"  "  The  Sprightly  Romance 
of  Marsac,"  etc.  Illustrated.  Cloth,  $1.50. 

"With  so  delicate  a  touch  and  appreciation  of  the  detail 
of  domestic  and  plantation  life,  with  so  wise  comprehension 
of  the  exalted  and  sometimes  stilted  notions  of  Southern 
honor  and  with  humorous  depiction  of  African  fidelity  and 
bombast  to  interest  and  amuse  him,  it  only  gradually  dawns 
on  a  reader  that  'The  Victory'  is  the  truest  and  most 
tragic  presentation  yet  before  us  of  the  rending  of  home 
ties,  the  awful  passions,  the  wounded  affections  personal 
and  national,  and  the  overwhelming  questions  of  honor 
which  weighed  down  a  people  in  the  war  of  son  against 
father  and  brother  against  brother." — Hartford  Courant. 

"  Among  the  many  romances  written  recently  about  the 
Civil  War,  this  one  by  Miss  Seawell  takes  a  high  place.  .  .  . 
Altogether,  'The  Victory,'  a  title  significant  in  several 
ways,  makes  a  strong  appeal  to  the  lover  of  a  good  tale." 

—  The  Outlook. 

"  Miss  Seawell's  narrative  is  not  only  infused  with  a 
tender  and  sympathetic  spirit  of  romance  and  surcharged 
with  human  interests,  but  discloses,  in  addition,  careful  and 
minute  study  of  local  conditions  and  characteristic  man- 
nerisms. It  is  an  intimate  study  of  life  on  a  Virginia 
plantation  during  an  emergent  and  critical  period  of  Amer- 
ican history." — Philadelphia  North  American. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  romances  that  make,  by  spirit  as  well  as 
letter,  for  youth  and  high  feeling.  It  embodies,  perhaps,  the 
best  work  this  author  yet  has  done." — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"Aside  from  the  engaging  story  itself  and  the  excellent 
manner  in  which  it  is  told  there  is  much  of  historic  interest 
in  this  vivid  word-picture  of  the  customs  and  manners  of  a 
period  which  has  formed  the  background  of  much  fiction." 

— Brooklyn  Citizen. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


BY  H.  B.  MARRIOTT  WATSON, 
A  Midsummer  Day's  Dream. 

Ornamental  Cloth,  $1.50. 

"Since  Harland's  'The  Cardinal's  Snuff  Box '  there  has 
been  nothing  to  equal  its  clever  and  graceful  merriment." 

— New  York  Times. 
"  A  delightful  bit  of  romantic  foolery." 

— New  York  Evening  Post. 

"  A  very  beautiful  story,  in  which  Mr.  Watson  has  em- 
ployed his  gifts  in  the  employment  of  language  and  the 
telling  of  a  tale  to  excellent  advantage." 

— St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat. 

"  The  little  tale  is  graceful  to  a  degree,  witty  past  expec- 
tation, and  pervaded  with  an  illusive  spirit  of  poetry.  It  is 
nonsense  'but  quite  precious  nonsense,'  as  Bunthorne  used 
to  say." — Chicago  Tribune. 

Twisted  Eglantine. 

Illustrated.     Ornamental  Cloth,  $1.50. 

This  is  the  history  of  a  love  affair  of  a  famous  English 
beau  in  the  time  of  George  IV.  The  heroine  is  a  ravishingly 
beautiful  country  girl,  with  whom  the  beau  becomes  infatu- 
ated. By  the  aid  of  her  country  lover  she  is  rescued  from 
the  wiles  of  the  fashionable  dandy,  and  his  schemes  are 
thwarted. 

"The  story  is  on  a  high  plane;  it  is  a  romance  which  is  en- 
tirely free  from  the  melodramatic  quality ;  in  a  word,  a  novel 
that  will  enhance  the  author's  reputation  as  a  writer  of  fiction 
of  far  more  than  ordinary  attainments." — Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"He  has  presented  to  us  the  only  living  beau  we  have  met 
this  many  a  year;  and  where  so  many  hundreds  have  failed, 
to  say  this  is  the  highest  compliment  we  can  pay  his  book." 

— The  Outlook. 

D.    APPLETON    AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


By  the  Author  of  "THE  SILENCE  OF  DEAN  MAITLAND." 

The  Great  Refusal. 

By  MAXWELL  GRAY.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

"  The  Great  Refusal "  is  the  refusal  of  the  son, 
a  man  of  mind,  to  continue  in  the  career  mapped 
out  for  him  by  the  father,  a  man  of  money.  The 
whole  theme  of  the  novel  is  whether  wealth  is  to 
be  a  means  of  luxury  or  a  stepping-stone  to  social 
service  and  the  alleviation  of  distress. 

"It  is  a  story  full  of  contrast  and  color,  a  brilliant 
picture." — Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"The  lesson  of  the  book  is  unmistakable,  the  atmos- 
phere pleasing,  the  style  always  graceful  and  sometimes 
poetic.  There  is  no  lack  of  varied,  effective  action,  and 
many  of  the  conversations  are  noteworthy." — Chicago 
Record-Herald. 

"  When  Maxwell  Gray  gave  to  the  world  the  celebrated 
novel  'The  Silence  of  Dean  Maitland,'  critics  wondered 
if  such  a  gifted  writer  would  one  day  strike  a  purer,  clearer 
note.  She  has  just  done  so  in  issuing  'The  Great  Re- 
fusal./ a  novel  of  self-sacrifice.  No  more  uplifting  book 
of  its  kind  has  appeared  since  Besant's  'All  Sorts  and 
Conditions  of  Men '  emphasized  the  lesson  that  we  do  not 
live  only  for  ourselves  and  that  we  can  fulfill  a  high  ideal 
in  bettering  the  condition  of  our  fellow-men." — Portland 
Oregonian. 

D.    APPLETON    AND    CO.MPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


A  GREAT  FRENCH  DETECTIVE'S  ADVENTURES* 

The  Triumphs  of  Eugene  Valmont. 

By  ROBERT  BARR,  author  of  "The  Midst  of 
Alarms,"  etc.     Illustrated.     $1.50. 

"The  most  marvellous  series  of  detective  adventures 
written  in  many  a  day." — St.  Louis  Republic. 

"Much  more  ingenious  than  the  Sherlock  Holmes 
tales." — New  York  Sun. 

"Ingenious  and  amusing." — Outlook. 

"  Detective  adventures  and  good  ones,  too,  with  the 
addition  of  an  element  usually  lacking  in  such  stories — 
humor." — Kansas  City  Star. 

"In  many  respects  far  superior  in  ingenuity  and  vigor 
to  any  one  of  the  many  adventures  of  Sherlock  Holmes." 

— Boston  Transcript. 

"Valmont  is  a  detective  of  an  entirely  new  stripe,  for 
he  doesn't  pose  as  omnipotent,  and  he  tells  of  his  failures 
quite  as  placidly  as  of  his  great  triumphs.  One  gets  to  like 
him  immensely  before  the  book  is  half  over." 

— Cleveland  Leader. 

"A  delightfully  entertaining  book,  as  different  from  the 
ordinary,  or  extraordinary,  detective  story  as  possible,  and 
is  all  the  more  interesting  for  that  reason." 

— Brooklyn  Eagle. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK. 


"A  TALE  OF  OLD  EGYPT  AND  LITTLE  OLD  NEW  YORK/ 


The  False  Gods. 

By  GEORGE  HORACE  LORIMER,  author  of  "Let- 
ters from  a  Self-made  Merchant  to  His  Son."  Col- 
ored Inlay  on  cover,  full-page  drawings,  head  and 
tail  pieces,  and  many  decorations  throughout,  by 
J.  C.  Leyendecker.  $1.25. 

The  experiences  of  a  "  yellow "  newspaper  reporter 
who  starts  out  to  investigate  the  workings  of  a  society  of 
Egyptologists  and  discovers  a  baffling,  bewildering  mystery. 

"  It  has  thrills.     Every  one  will  enjoy  it." 

— Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  The  book  teems  with  delightful  and  subtle  humor." 

— Oregon  Journal, 

"A  very  ingenious  and  original  tale." 

— Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"  A  clever  extravaganza,  pleasantly  satirical  of  romantic 
fiction  and  red-eyed  journalism." — Springfield  Republican. 

"  Mr.  Lorimer  is  merrily  satirical  at  the  expense  of  the 
theosophy  cult  and  'yellow  journalism,'  especially  the 
latter." — Pittsburg  Chronicle-  Telegraph. 

"  There  is  a  remarkable  weirdness  and  mystery  in  the 
tale  of  'The  False  Gods,'  and  it  is  good  for  a  number  of 
delicious  little  shivers  and  thrills." — Chicago  Daily  News. 

D.  AP  PL  ETON  AND  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK. 


A  GREAT  ROMANTIC  NOVEL. 


The  Reckoning. 

By    ROBERT    W.    CHAMBERS.       Illustrated    by 
Henry  Hutt.     $1.50. 

"A  thrilling  and  engrossing  tale." — New  York  Sun. 

"  When  we  say  that  the  new  work  is  as  good  as  '  Cardigan '  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  say  more." — The  Dial. 

"  Robert  Chambers'  books  recommend  themselves.  '  The 
Reckoning'  is  one  of  his  best  and  will  delight  lovers  of  good 
novels." — Boston  Herald. 

"  It  is  an  exceedingly  fine  specimen  of  its  class,  worthy  of  its 
predecessors  and  a  joy  to  all  who  like  plenty  of  swing  and  spirit." 

— London  Bookman 

"  Robert  W.  Chambers'  stories  of  the  revolutionary  period  in 
particular  show  a  care  in  historic  detail  that  put  them  in  a  different 
class  from  the  rank  and  file  of  colonial  novels." — Book  News. 

"  A  stirring  tale  well  told  and  absorbing.  It  is  not  a  book  t<? 
forget  easily  and  it  will  for  many  throw  new  light  on  a  phase  of 
revolutionary  history  replete  with  interest  and  appeal." 

— Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"  Chambers'  bullets  whistle  almost  audibly  in  the  pages ;  when 
a  twig  snaps,  as  twigs  do  perforce  in  these  chronicles,  you  can 
almost  feel  the  presence  of  the  savage  buck  who  snaps  it.  Then 
there  are  situations  of  force  and  effect  everywhere  through  the 
pages,  an  intensity  of  action,  a  certain  naturalness  of  dialogue  and 
'  human  nature '  in  the  incidents.  But  over  all  is  the  glamor  of  the 
Chambers  fancy,  the  gauzy  woof  of  an  artist's  imagination  which 
glories  in  tints,  in  poesies,  in  the  little  whims  of  the  brush  and 
pencil,  so  that  you  have  just  a  pleasant  reminder  of  unreality  and 
a  glinapse  of  the  author  himself  here  and  there  to  vary  the  interest." 

— St.  Louis  Republic. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


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